Prince William and Princess Kate Aim for "Normalizing Experiences" So Their Kids Don't Think They're "Elevated"
The princess is integrating her "Middleton upbringing and her family values."
Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis might be the children of the future King and Queen, but like any kids, their parents want them to have as normal of a childhood as possible. Even though they live on the grounds of Windsor Castle, Prince William and Princess Kate are careful to give their children as many everyday experiences as possible—and according to one expert, that means ensuring the royal kids don't get a sense they're "invincible."
In the Channel 5 documentary Prince George: How To Make a Monarch, numerous royal insiders shared details about the 11-year-old future King and what his childhood is like. During the show, psychotherapist Lucy Beresford shared (via the Mirror) that for the Prince and Princess of Wales, it's important that their kids remain grounded.
"I think William and Kate, making sure that George, Charlotte and Louis have these normalizing experiences where they just interact with really normal people, actually gives them that grounded sense that they are human beings like the rest of us, they're not rarefied, they're not elevated and it could hopefully dilute that sense of 'I'm invincible'."
As someone who grew up outside of the Royal Family, the Princess of Wales naturally has a different perspective on parenting. India McTaggart, a royal correspondent for the Telegraph, said she thinks the princess has "brought so much from her Middleton upbringing and her family values, that I think has completely informed the way that she is raising the next generation of royals."
Even though their kids—pictured at Trooping the Colour 2023—live extraordinary lives, Prince Wiliam and Princess Kate aim for normality.
The Wales family, seen on Princess Charlotte's first day of school in 2019, plays a regular part in school life.
Along with forest walks, baking and plenty of other family activities, the prince and princess take part in school life just like other parents. Prince George, 11, Princess Charlotte, 9, and Prince Louis, 6, attend Lambrook School, and their parents are regularly spotted attending functions and chatting with other families.
"According to the other mums at Lambrook, she turns up for sports days, she turns up for special matches, and she's a very hands-on mum," royal expert Richard Palmer recently wrote for the iPaper.
Queen Elizabeth's former press secretary Ailsa Anderson revealed that Princess Kate reportedly "has a WhatsApp group where she communicates with other parents, so it's very much quite a normal upbringing."
Of course, being a member of the Royal Family in itself is pretty much the opposite of "normal." But like Princess Diana, Prince William and Princess Kate are mindful of giving their children a healthy perspective on their privilege—an outlook that can only benefit George, Charlotte and Louis as they grow older and move into their public roles.
