Though the expert acknowledged that the Prince and Princess Of Wales have a “unique” parenting style regarding their children’s future lives, the freedom to have fun is vital for the kids.
“William and Kate’s parenting duties were always going to be unique as they’re inducting a prince, princess, and future king into the rules, traditions, and formalities of the royal family as well as allowing three small children to have as much fun and freedom as possible as they do so,” she said.
Princess Diana taught Prince William and Prince Harry many things, and now the future king wants to continue that same tradition with his children.
“We are very normal in that sense”
Both William and Kate have spoken about how they are raising their children several times over the last decade. In 2016, before Prince Louis was born, William talked about how he and Kate wanted to keep things as normal as possible for their kids despite their lives being everything but normal.
“As far as we are concerned within our family unit, we are a normal family,” William said in 2016. “I love my children in the same way any father does and I hope George loves me the same way any son does his father. We are very normal in that sense.”
While Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis have royal relatives, they also have loved ones from more humble begginings. Their mother’s parents, Carole and Michael Middleton, aren’t from a royal background, and that has had a vital impact on their childhood. During a primary school visit in 2017, Kate Middleton spoke about how her parents’ way of raising her children has affected her own.
“My parents taught me about the importance of qualities like kindness, respect, and honesty, and I realize how central values like these have been to me throughout my life. That is why William and I want to teach our little children…just how important these things are as they grow up. In my view it is just as important as excelling at maths or sports,” Kate said.
Speaking with OK! Royal expert Katie Nicholl, author of The New Royals, explained that Michael and Carole have been essential during the royal children’s early years.
Prince William wants to teach his children that “some of us need a helping hand”
They regularly help William and Kate take care of the children, especially in the days since Kate’s cancer diagnosis.
“Having Kate’s family so intrinsically linked with them is key,” Katie Nicholl explained. “The Middletons bring a great dose of normality and stability to those children’s lives. They’re there on the bucket and spade holidays, they’re there for the parties and they’re there to step in when William and Kate need them. They really are just loving, normal, down-to-earth grandparents.”
Princess Diana’s legacy is still very much present within the Royal Family. In the infamous BBC interview following her royal exit, she said she wanted to be “a queen in people’s hearts,” rather than the actual queen. Diana was keen on helping everyone and taught her children that everyone wasn’t living a great life.
No matter how heartbreaking it was to see, it was important for Diana that her children knew about how cruel the world could be outside of the Buckingham Palace walls.
William now wants to teach his children that not everyone is as fortunate as they are. Speaking with the Sunday Times, he revealed he wants George, Charlotte, and Louis to know that “some of us need a helping hand.”
Diana took him and Harry to a homeless shelter when they were young, and the future king intends to do the same with his children.
The heartbreaking reason Prince William is continuing Diana’s tradition with his own children
“My mother introduced me to the cause of homelessness from quite a young age, and I’m really glad she did,” William explained. “I think when I can balance it with their schooling, they will definitely be exposed to it. On the school run, we talk about what we see. When we were in London, driving backwards and forwards, we regularly used to see people sitting outside supermarkets and we’d talk about it.”
He continued: “I’d say to the children, ‘Why are they there? What’s going on?’ I think it’s in all our interests, it’s the right thing to do, to expose the children, at the right stage, in the right dialogue, so they have an understanding.”
Royal expert Katie Nicholl explained to OK! that she finds it fitting that Prince William is passing on his mother’s values.
“It wasn’t just Diana – Charles also wanted his sons to have a better understanding of life outside the Palace walls,” she said. “They both came from the same perspective of wanting to raise those boys with an understanding of normal life outside the confines of royal protocol.”
“William and Kate’s children are probably more aware of homelessness than most children from privileged backgrounds, because it’s something their father campaigns passionately for and has done since he was 18. I think their eyes have been quite wide open from an early age – and that is largely because of William and Kate’s hard work,” she added.
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