James Middleton Shares a Rare Family Photo of Prince William and Princess Kate's Late Dog, Lupo

There’s no better person to celebrate International Dog Day than James Middleton, and Princess Kate's brother shared a sweet tribute to his oldest cocker spaniel, Zulu, on Wednesday, August 26. Middleton breeds dogs and gifted the Wales family with both their late dog, Lupo, and their current cocker spaniel, Orla, and a throwback photo of Lupo made the cut in James’s celebratory Instagram post.

Wearing a casual denim shirt, James smiles at the camera as he holds Zulu in a photo, writing, “This is Zulu’s 15th International Dog Day and may well be his last….so today we are celebrating him 🐾❤️.”

The second photo in Middleton’s post shows James’s first dog, Ella—who inspired his bestselling memoir, Meet Ella: The Dog Who Saved My Life—sitting next to her sons Zulu and Lupo. “These photos were taken 15 years apart 📸,” Middleton wrote. “Zulu with his mother Ella, and brother Lupo 🖤.”

Middleton credits Ella with stopping him from a 2017 suicide attempt, and the cocker spaniel was instrumental in helping him through his mental health struggles over the years. In January 2023, Ella died after a short illness, with James sharing an Instagram post that said, in part, “For 15 years Ella has been at my side, from my darkest days to my happiest. I'm going to miss her terribly.”

Prince William and Princess Kate announced that Lupo had died in November 2020, writing on social media, “Very sadly last weekend our dear dog, Lupo, passed away. He has been at the heart of our family for the past nine years and we will miss him so much. - W & C.”

James gave another dog, Orla, to the Waleses the same year, and she later gave birth to puppies that played a starring role in Prince William’s 2025 birthday photo. William and Kate kept one of the puppies, a brown cocker spaniel named Otto, and he turned one in May 2026. However, the family kept their new dog a secret until his first birthday, writing on Instagram, "Welcome to the family, Otto! 1 today 🥳 🎂."