The Prince and Princess place great emphasis on spending time outdoors in the fresh air, playing in the woods and in the mud, as well as doing sports from ballet to football, rugby and cricket.
“Their kids bring them a lot of joy,” the Princess’ uncle Gary Goldsmith said in a magazine interview this weekend.
Earlier this month, Prince William spoke out about the scourge of too much screen time, urging children and adults alike to put their phones down during a visit to a youth club.
“They are fantastic parents,” said a source. “It can’t be overstated. Everything they do is about their children.”
Another source has previously called the Prince and Princess the “best parents in royal history”, as a result of their conscious and deliberate efforts to make decisions to suit their children rather than sticking rigidly to duty and tradition.
“The Prince and Princess of Wales have made a clear decision about how they’re going to parent their children,” said one. “They are committed to giving the children the happiest and healthiest upbringing possible, setting the foundation for the rest of their lives.
Commitment to duty
“It’s not something that’s instead of their commitment to duty, it IS their commitment to duty: bringing up the next generation and future King.”
One friend said the couple aims to give their children the stable home life the young Prince William, whose parents separated in 1992, “didn’t have”.
The Princess has regularly spoken of the importance of the foundation years of 0 to five as the most important in a person’s life.
Speaking in 2017, she said: “We hope to encourage [our children] to speak about their feelings.”
She added: “I’ve got such fond memories of being in the garden and being outside from my own childhood, and I’m sharing that with my own children at the moment.”
Last year, she revealed that Prince Louis’s class used a “feelings wheel” made up of colours to help them express their emotions, praising it as “really good”.
Stoic
The Prince and Princess both do the school run every day between them, and have in recent years restricted their overseas tours to short trips in part so they are not away from the children for too long.
“The kids are everything to them, and she is the lynchpin of the family,” a source said about the Waleses, adding that the Princess would be being “stoic” about her illness.
The Princess is understood to be keen to continue her usual routines as far as possible during her treatment and recovery.
The family do a range of sports, with Catherine enjoying cold water swimming and the children doing everything from triathlons to ballet lessons.
“What I think is really interesting is that they are all obviously very different temperaments,” she said during an appearance on Mike Tindall’s podcast The Good, The Bad & The Rugby in 2023, adding that “they are growing and trying out different sports.”
“They’re obviously still really young. It’s going to be interesting to see how that grows and develops.”
In her video message to the public, disclosing she is undergoing preventative chemotherapy, the Princess said: “We hope that you will understand that, as a family, we now need some time, space and privacy while I complete my treatment.”
James Parker is a UK-based entertainment aficionado who delves into the glitz and glamour of the entertainment industry. From Hollywood to the West End, he offers readers an insider’s perspective on the world of movies, music, and pop culture.
