Duchess of Cambridge’s brother James Middleton celebrates engagement

Love is truly in the air with the Duchess of Cambridge’s brother James Middleton confirming a wedding is on the cards with some exciting engagement news.

The 32-year-old has been dating partner Alizee Thevenet for around 15 months and over the weekend announced they are engaged. With rumours swirling around the globe that the pair had taken the next step in their relationship, James took to social media to confirm it was indeed true.

In a post shared on Instagram, Kate’s younger brother wrote: “She said OUI, Our secret is out but we couldn’t be happier to share the news.” James paired the announcement with a sweet photo of the two cuddling in together and smiling broadly at the camera.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B3R1d7EAzsM/

On Alizee finger was a gorgeous sapphire ring glimmering in the light. Behind them was the beautiful scenery of the Lake District, a mountainous region in the North West England famous for its lakes, forests and mountains.

The post has received plenty of attention from excited friends and fans who left comments of love and support for the happy couple and their exciting news.”Love love this pic. Many many congratulations you two,” one person wrote on Instagram.

While another added: “Very happy for you both. Chapeau!” And a third said: “Beautiful couple. Congratulations to you both.”

The exciting announcements comes months after James opened up about his secret battle with depression. In a deeply honest first-person piece for the Daily Mail, James revealed that it was his sister Catherine, her husband Prince William and his brother Prince Harry who eventually inspired him to speak publicly about his mental health, thanks to their own work raising awareness of it with their ‘Heads Together’ campaign.

Describing his depression as “an absence of feelings” and a “cancer of the mind”, James revealed it really developed through 2016 and 2017, leading to him completely shutting his whole family out – despite their worried messages and calls. “Their anxious texts grew more insistent by the day, yet they went unanswered as I sank progressively deeper into a morass of despair,” he admitted.

“I also felt misunderstood; a complete failure,” James added. “I wouldn’t wish the sense of worthlessness and desperation, the isolation and loneliness on my worst enemy. I felt as if I was going crazy.”

James said he hit such a low point in 2017 that he fled to the Lake District to be alone with his dogs, often swimming in the lakes there and taking lengthy walks by himself. Although he did not contemplate suicide, he revealed he “didn’t want to live in the state of mind I was in either”.

Luckily, the time away also gave him the final push to seek help and he eventually began seeing Dr Stephen Pereira, a consultant psychiatrist and cognitive behaviour therapy specialist. Through these sessions, he was finally diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD).

It explained what he described as a lack of focus in his work and also added explanation to his struggles with reading at school, having also knowingly had dyslexia at the time. He felt unable to talk to his family about his health at this time, so asked the professionals to instead, admitting telling loved ones is the hardest job.

He added: “It was impossible to let my loved ones know about the torture in my mind.” James has now come to see his ADD as a gift however, and wrote that he feels privileged to be able to have the platform he does to speak out about his mental health.