Kate Middleton’s Surprising Cancer Aid Revealed by Her Brother, James Middleton

Even casual followers of royal news will likely be aware that Kate Middleton’s brother has a dog or two, and that his old hound, Ella, is the posthumous fulcrum of his new dogograph and memoir.

While we can be quite sure publishers around the world would have bounded after the opportunity to publish Meet Ella: The Dog Who Saved My Life regardless of his last name, people do seem rather keen to ask James Middleton about his interactions with the royals as well as his new line of yummy dog food.

James is carefully distributing occasional treats to the baying hordes, and the latest is a claim that one of Ella’s descendants, Orla, whom he gave to William and Kate, might have helped his sister through her recent cancer diagnosis.

Asked by Hello! magazine if he believes that Orla might have played a part in supporting Kate through her illness, James replies: “I know how much the dogs, for me, have helped in taking your mind off something. So I’m certain that for them, Orla is doing her job in supporting her family.”

Royal reporters with long memories might recall a time when Kate and William refused to publicly reveal the name of their first dog, Lupo, saying it was “private.”

James, who is an ambassador for the charity Pets as Therapy, also says the Middleton and Wales clans—who were filmed playing card games together in Kate’s recent cancer recovery video—have pulled together to get through Kate’s cancer treatment.

“We are certainly a close family that goes through things together,” he says. “That was the experience I had through my challenges, and I certainly feel like it’s something that her [Kate’s] family and our family are doing too.”