Sibling love! James Middleton complimented his sister Duchess Kate for her hard work on a new mental health advocacy program.
The business owner, 32, took to Instagram to thank the Duchess of Cambridge, 38, after taking a brief break from social media amid his struggle with depression.
“This isn’t a post about dogs … brace yourselves,” the avid dog lover teased in the caption on Thursday, February 20. “BUT it’s in huge support of my wonderful Sister’s ‘Early Years’ initiative to ask ‘5 big questions on the under fives.'”
He continued, encouraging his followers to participate in a new survey for the duchess’ organization. “Like me, even if you don’t have children, your own experiences will help invest in the future of the next generation,” he wrote beside a throwback photo of himself and his grandparents’ bulldog, Gibson.
Since opening up about his own private battle with mental illness in January 2019, the Boomf founder revealed that Kate would often attend therapy sessions with him during his time receiving professional help.
“That was so important because that helped them understand me and how my mind was working,” he told The Telegraph in October 2019. “And I think the way the therapy helped me was that I didn’t need my family to say, ‘What can we do?’ The only thing they could do was just come to some of the therapy sessions to start to understand.”
Kate and Prince William have been vocal supporters of improving mental health awareness in the U.K. throughout their royal tenure. The Duke of Cambridge, 37, opened up about how his time as an ambulance pilot impacted his wellness during a conference in London in November 2018.
“The relation between the job and the personal life was what really took me over the edge,” he said. “I started feeling things that I’ve never felt before. And I got very sad and very down about this particular family.”
His younger brother, Prince Harry, has also spoken about how losing their mother, Princess Diana, had a significant effect on their lives. During an interview on the “Mad World” podcast in April 2017, Harry, 35, admitted that he pursued therapy as an adult to help him cope.
“It was only three years ago, funny enough, from the support around, and my brother and other people saying, ‘You really need to deal with this. It’s not normal to think that nothing has affected you,’” he said at the time.
