Prince William and Kate Middleton are making every effort to provide their three children with a normal upbringing.
Despite being in line for the throne, Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis are being raised to lead as ordinary lives as possible amid their extraordinary responsibilities. Royal commentator Duncan Larcombe said while the children can’t live completely normal lives, the Prince and Princess of Wales are trying to control what their kids are exposed to.
“They can never be normal and nothing will ever really be normal about their lives how can a child have a normal upbringing when he’s told at the age of six that he’s going to be King?” Larcombe said.
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Speaking to OK! Magazine, he continued: “But the things they can control, they do, especially in terms of what their children are exposed to and which events they take them along to. The way William and Kate are bringing up their children is very much based on the Middleton model that small family unit of three kids, the same as with Kate and her siblings.
“They don’t live lavishly, but they do live very comfortably.” In keeping with this grounded approach, it’s reported that household chores aren’t beneath the young royals. With no resident domestic aides at Adelaide Cottage, the children are “expected to muck in”.
Royal expert Katie Nicholl said: “They absolutely do menial tasks. They are far more ordinary than many might imagine the kids even have to do chores in return for their pocket money. It’s about them wanting to have a normal, happy, ordinary family home and lifestyle which, at Adelaide Cottage, they are really achieving.”
Despite their royal status, it seems that normalcy is the goal for William and Kate. Nicholl also outlined the juggling act between public duties and personal life.
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“Their approach from day one has been different,” she noted. “The children understand their place in the line of succession and George knows he will one day be King, but William and Kate cushion all of that with fun, family and a wealth of experiences.”
Kate’s parents, Michael and Carole Middleton, also play a crucial role in keeping the children grounded. They regularly assist with childcare and have been particularly supportive since Kate’s cancer diagnosis earlier this year.
William and Kate’s children share a close relationship with King Charles and Queen Camilla, who offer Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis a glimpse into their future royal duties. “They’re getting a very different experience with them,” noted Nicholl, author of The New Royals.
“They’re getting a taste of life at Balmoral, Christmas at Sandringham and, on a more epic scale, events like the Coronation and the Queen’s funeral. So the children are getting the best of both worlds.”
Kate places a high priority on instilling strong moral values in her children alongside William. “My parents taught me about the importance of qualities like kindness, respect and honesty, and I realise how central values like these have been to me throughout my life,” she previously revealed.
“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 math or sport.”
William, who experienced an extraordinary upbringing himself, wholeheartedly aligns with his wife’s grounded approach to parenting. “As far as we are concerned within our family unit, we are a normal family,” he 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.”
Following in the footsteps of his mother Princess Diana, William is earnest about instilling charitable values and consciousness in his kids. Diana introduced him and Prince Harry to the plight of the homeless at a young age, and now William is keen to impart these same lessons to his own children.
“My mother introduced me to the cause of homelessness from quite a young age, and I’m really glad she did,” he mentioned earlier this year. Speaing about his goals to continue Diana’s legacy, he added: “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.
“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.”
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