Unexpected member of Kate's support system during her cancer battle revealed by James Middleton

The royal's younger brother gave Kate a dog named Orla before her diagnosis.

Orla featured in the Princess of Wales's video message confirming she had finished chemotherapy last month.

James told Hello: "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."

He added: "That was the experience I had through my challenges, and I certainly feel like it's something that her [Catherine's] family and our family are doing too."

In his new book, James revealed he and Pippa made their feelings clear when Kate told them that she and Prince William were getting married.

The younger siblings of the Princess of Wales were told the exciting news in a local pub.

James stated that he and Pippa made clear to Kate that they would always be there to support her.

He wrote: "We make a quiet acknowledgement that we’ll always be there for each other, look out for one another, support each other.

"No matter how crazy things get."

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The 37-year-old also shared in the book, Meet Ella: The Dog Who Saved My Life, that he was taken aback when his sister and future brother-in-law asked him to do a reading during their 2011 wedding at Westminster Abbey.

He recalled asking them: "Seriously?" Kate and William responded: "Seriously."

Kate's brother admitted: "If that was what my sister and William wanted, then of course I’d do my best not to let them down."

James's reading was the only Bible reading in the service, and he wrote he did not know "whether to be honoured or appalled" at the time.