James Middleton is speaking openly about his battle with depression

Cape Town - Kate Middleton's younger brother, James Middleton is speaking openly about his battle with depression, calling it a "cancer of the mind."

The 31-year-old published a personal essay on the Daily Mail, writing: "I know I'm richly blessed and live a privileged life. But it did not make me immune to depression."

James wrote: "It is tricky to describe the condition. It is not merely sadness. It is an illness, a cancer of the mind."

"It's not a feeling but an absence of feelings. You exist without purpose or direction. I couldn't feel joy, excitement or anticipation -- only heart-thudding anxiety propelled me out of bed in the morning. I didn't actually contemplate suicide -- but I didn't want to live in the state of mind I was in either,"  he continued.

He goes on to say that he felt "compelled to talk about it openly" because of his brother-in-law Prince William, sister Kate and Prince Harry's work with mental health charity, Heads Together. 

(Read the full essay here)

It was recently revealed that James is dating financial analyst Alizee Thevenet. The entrepreneur also recently made his Instagram account public.