Kate Middleton’s brother James marries fiancée Alizee Thevenet in secret South of France ceremony

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Kate Middleton’s brother James has today announced his marriage to French analyst Alizée Thevenet – after twice having to postpone the wedding due to Covid.

The entrepreneur, 34, who is the younger brother of the Duchess of Cambridge, revealed he had tied the knot with the 32-year-old finance expert on Saturday ‘surrounded by family and friends’.

The secret ceremony took place in the French village of Bormes-les-Mimosas on the famous Côte d’Azur. 

Prince William and Kate both attended the event, along with James’ other sister, socialite Pippa, and her businessman husband James Matthews.

His parents Carole and Michael Middleton, and his beloved dogs, Luna and Mabel, are also thought to have attended.

Announcing his marriage with a picture of him and bride Alizée on Instagram this evening, James said: ‘Yesterday I married the love of my life surrounded by family, friends and of course a few dogs in the beautiful village or Bormes-les-Mimosas. Words cannot describe how happy I am.’  

It comes after James revealed last year that he and Alizée had been forced to postpone their wedding twice because of the coronavirus pandemic. 

The couple, who met in 2018 and who announced their engagement in 2019, had originally planned to get married in May last year.

But they were twice forced to push back the date. He said in a post on Instagram in September last year: ‘It’s a year since I asked Alizée to marry me… what a year it’s been!

‘Two homes, lockdown, two attempts at a wedding, a litter of [dog emoji], launching of new company @ella.co, a beard shave and much more but the best part is that I get to share it with you @alizeethevenet and I can’t wait to take on whatever the future holds for us.’ 

However the wedding did go ahead this time in Alizée’s native France, which is currently on the the UK’s amber travel list.

It means the couple and their guests from the UK will need to take a Covid test two days after their arrival back in Britain, if they are double vaccinated. 

Those who aren’t double vaccinated will have to self-isolate for 10 days on their arrival back in the UK. 

James, founder of British greetings card firm Boomf, first met Alizée in 2018, in private members club, the South Kensington Club, in Chelsea.

He told the Telegraph they met when his beloved dog Ella ‘made a beeline’ for Alizée while she was relaxing in the £3,500-a-year club. 

He said: ‘The two of us (Ella and me) were at the South Kensington Club in Chelsea. Ella was lying at my feet under the table; realising she might want some water, I trusted her to take herself over to the water bowl across the terrace.   

‘However, she made a beeline for Alizée. Rather embarrassed, I went over to apologise and bring Ella back.

‘But Alizée thought I was the waiter and ordered her drink while continuing to stroke Ella, who at this point was on her back lapping up the attention.

‘Little did I know, but I had just met my future wife, all thanks to Ella. If I hadn’t trusted Ella, I wouldn’t have brought her to the South Kensington Club and she wouldn’t have been able to say hi to the woman who became my fiancée.’

After more than a year of dating, the couple announced their engagement in September 2019.  James is believed to have proposed during a trip in the Lake District. 

Alizée was seen in a picture shared on his Instagram with a stunning sapphire ring on her finger.

The couple were last pictured together at the Bvlgari Magnifica Gala dinner at Spencer House in St James’, London, in June.

James is the youngest of the three Middleton siblings, after his eldest sister, Kate, 39, and Pippa, 38. He was watched by millions around the world as he delivered a reading from the Bible at Kate and Prince William’s 2011 wedding.

All three grew up in Berkshire to parents Michael Middleton and wife Carole Goldman, both of whom are successful entrepreneurs.

James, like his two sisters, attended the private boarding school St Andrew’s School, in Pangbourne, Berkshire, before moving to Marlborough College in Wiltshire. 

Alongside Boomf, James launched Ella & Co, a mail order dog food company that offers freeze-dried, raw, organic dog food in May last year.

He is also a mental health advocate. In 2019, in a first person piece published in the Daily Mail, he wrote passionately about his private battle with the depression – which he described as a ‘cancer of the mind’.

Earlier this year it was revealed that James and Alizée had snapped up the Middleton’s fourth property in the Berkshire village of Bucklebury, for £1.45 million.

The property is four-bedroom Grade II listed period farmhouse with beams and leaded windows in a village on the Bucklebury fringes.

Parents Carole and Michael live in a £4.7million Georgian manor house in the same village, while sister Pippa recently bought Bucklebury Farm Park, a petting zoo which is a favourite of Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis. 

James had previously been staying at his parents’ home throughout lockdown with Alizée. 

His parent’s Georgian pile is the former family seat of a family whose ancestors were granted the land by Henry VIII. It is set in 18 acres of landscaped grounds with views across a picturesque valley.

Speaking about the move to his new home, he said in a post on Instagram: ‘Think buying a house is up there with one of the most stressful experiences in my life.

‘It’s been a hectic few months moving in to our new home & we couldn’t be happier. We are settling into our life in the country and the dogs their new home.’

Earlier this year, while speaking to The Telegraph, James declared he and Alizée were ‘country people’.

Prior to the move into the new house, he said he was looking forward to being ‘reunited with our belongings, which have been in storage for almost a year now’.

The pair had earlier in the year been seen house-hunting in south-West London, just a stone’s throw from the home his sister Pippa shares with her husband and two children. 

At Easter, James shared snaps to Instagram from a garden showcasing four out of six of his beloved dogs alongside his pet rabbit Pretzel. 

He shared the photographs to promote a training video posted on the social media account for his pet supplies company Ella & Co.

The caption read: ‘Happy Easter from my family to yours. Many of you don’t know I have a rabbit called Pretzel and is really important for me all my animals get along. 

‘I’ve made a little training video on how I introduce my dogs to other animals over at @ella.co starting Pretzel and Daphne.’

In April, James revealed he has adopted a blind lamb in a touching Instagram post celebrating his 34th birthday.

The entrepreneur said he was celebrating his birthday with Alizée, his dogs and a lamb, who he said was ‘a new member of the pack’.

In one snap posted on his own page, James could be seen hanging out of a window, with Ella and the new lamb, Captain, who he said he adopted after he was rejected by his mother. 

In another photo, posted on his company’s Instagram, James can be seen smiling and being showered in confetti as he sat next to Ella, while the pair wore matching blue birthday hats.

The final snap showed four dogs, a golden retriever, two black cocker spaniels and a brown spaniel, as well as Captain in a dog bed.

Alongside the series of snaps, posted in April, James wrote: ‘Today is my Birthday and I’m celebrating with my wonderful fiancee Alizee, and of course all the dogs and a new member of the pack.

‘I always reflect on my Birthday and I’m truly so thankful to Ella for bringing me so much happiness into my life.’

‘She was the one who introduced me to Alizee, she supported me during my experience with clinical depression, she has kept my young & active and is the driving force behind my motivation to launch @ella.co.

‘So you might be wondering why there is a little lamb in the photo… well Captain is partially blind and rejected by his mother so we’ve adopted him… although I think he now thinks he’s a spaniel.’