Kate Middleton's Brother Dishes on First Impression of Prince William in New Book

In his memoir, Spare, Prince William's brother, Prince Harry, opened up about his first impressions of the Princess of Wales, describing her as "carefree, sweet and kind." And now, in his tell-all memoir, Meet Ella, Kate Middleton's brother, James Middleton, is following suit with a description of his earliest impressions of his brother-in-law.

The Daily Mail published an excerpt earlier this week, and James detailed some of his observations of the royal in the early stages of his relationship with Kate. In fact, he revealed how he automatically went into protective brother mode as he got to know William. He wrote, "I remember putting him through his paces when we first met. Did he deserve my sister? He had to earn my trust."

Fortunately, the entrepreneur continued to bond with his future brother-in-law—and he learned some interesting things along the way, like the fact that William preferred not to play competitive games with the Middleton family.

This gave the prince several opportunities to bond with James's beloved dog, Ella. The author wrote, "Ella gave him a good excuse to escape the fiercely competitive nature of the Middleton family, which emerged every time we played our favourite fast-paced card game, Racing Demon."

He added, "William would flinch at our ruthless determination to win at all costs. He’d be delighted to be the first out, and when no longer compelled to take part, he’d slink off to cuddle Ella. Better still, he’d absent himself from the game entirely. 'James, does Ella need a walk?' he’d ask before we’d even started dealing the cards. My sisters and I would exchange a knowing glance: William, for all the competitive rigor of his military training, was happy to be a loser at cards."