Kate Middleton's brother James opens up on depression battle sharing powerful unseen images

Kate Middleton’s brother James has opened up about his battle with depression, sharing two powerful images marking Mental Health Awareness Week. 

• James Middleton has taken to social media this Mental Health Awareness Week to reveal how nature has helped him in his journey to overcome depression.
• He declared that he “absorbed everything” that nature gave him to help gather the strength to tackle his ongoing battle.
• This royal news (opens in new tab) comes as Prince Harry opens up on the ‘cycle of pain and suffering’ father Prince Charles ‘passed on’ to him while growing up (opens in new tab). 

James Middleton, younger brother of Kate Middleton (opens in new tab), has taken to social media to share a powerful message this Mental Health Awareness Week. Symptoms of depression and anxiety can too easily overlooked or ignored, but with the Covid-19 pandemic (opens in new tab) putting more pressure on mental health, it’s never been more important to look out for yourselves and others. 

Now James has opened up about what has helped him during his battle with depression and has given an insight into an incredibly difficult time. Posting on Instagram, James shared two pictures of him and his dogs taken just ten days after being diagnosed with clinical depression. 

‘It has been exactly 1255 days since I got diagnosed with clinical depression 🗣 -but that day was the first day I learnt about mental health and how it is integral to the way we live our lives’, he bravely declared in his caption. 

‘Ten days later I disappeared, I packed my dogs into my car and, telling no one where I was going, drove to a wild and remote part of the Lake District. There I swam in an icy lake, took solitary walks on snow-capped mountains and stayed alone in a remote cottage, trying to still the tumult in my mind. Why did I do this? I wanted to be in Nature 🌿’.

James went on to explain how the natural world has played a significant role in helping him during his battle with depression. 

‘One of my best strategies for coping with my own mental health today is taking my dogs 🐾 for a walk each time to inhale the powerful benefits nature has to offer 🌳. Another strategy is beekeeping, when I’m with my bees it’s as if someone’s pressed the mute button on everything that’s worrying me 🐝’ he wrote.

In a heartbreaking admission, he added: ‘I shouted at the top of my lungs (like they do in films) I cried and I absorbed everything that nature could give me giving me the strength to tackle the upcoing battle to overcome my depression- fast forward three years and each time I climb that mountain always say thank you for playing an unknowing part of my recovery🏔’. 

This is not the first time James Middleton has discussed his mental health. He previously revealed to The Telegraph that he underwent almost a year of cognitive behavioural therapy and that his family - including the Duchess of Cambridge - joined him for some of the sessions. 

“For me, now, there’s a feeling that I can take on anything, in the nicest possible way”, he told the publication. 

“[I]f I can talk about my mental health and the things I am passionate about and the way I truly feel… well then I’m not pretending to be anyone. This is who I am.”