The Prince and Princess of Wales have often been reported to be trying to give their three children Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis a childhood “as normal as possible”. However, author Tom Quinn noted, this doesn’t mean the daily lives of the Wales sons and daughter can be compared to other children their age.
Claiming what Kate and William may mean by normal is “not what the rest of us mean by normal”, Mr Quinn told Express.co.uk: “For example, the fact that they’ve moved to Windsor so that their children can have more space, they can only have that because they have the private grounds of Windsor Castle, hundreds of acres.
“And it’s almost certain, I would have thought, that George and Louis will go to Eton, which is only a 10, 15-minute drive from Windsor. Normal for most people doesn’t mean [accessing] the most expensive, the most exclusive school.”
However, the normality the royal parents are trying to give to the second-in-line to the throne and his siblings, Mr Quinn added, comes with the upbringing style Kate and William have embraced.
The author of the newly-released book Gilded Youth said: “I think what William and Kate are really trying to indicate is that they will be involved much more with their children, especially their boys.
“So they will always have the example of Charles, who’s been very public about being sent to Scotland to this dreadful school to make a man of him. That’s all gone, there’s no way that William and Kate will do something like that with their children.
“And even if they did board [at Eton College], they could still see their children every weekend, which wasn’t the case for poor Charles up at Gordonstoun. So they’ll be around more.”
Indeed, the two modern royal parents are known to adapt as much as possible their working schedule to their children’s hours.
In 2019, Kate and William reportedly left England to begin their tour of Pakistan only after carrying out the school run in the morning.
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In 2022, they returned from their tour to the Caribbean in time to celebrate Mother’s Day.
Moreover, the parents often try to clear their diaries ahead of half-term, to be able to spend time with their children as they are off school.
Mr Quinn also noted that, while the Prince and Princess of Wales do have a hands-on approach with their children, they still rely on paid staff for childcare not unlikely previous generations of aristocrats and royals.
Famously the Wales family have been helped by Norland College graduate Maria Teresa Turrion Borrallo since 2013, when Prince George was born.
Mr Quinn said: “They’re still employing paid staff, nannies and people to look after the children, but they will not be seeing them for half an hour a day as it used to be.
“Until the generation of Charles, Andrew and Edward, it was traditional for royal parents to see their children for about half an hour each day.”
Kate and Prince William moved to Adelaide Cottage, just minutes away from Windsor Castle, in the late summer of 2022.
Mr Quinn said: “The fact that they moved to Adelaide Cottage is their way of saying we’re going to be seeing our children a lot more than you might think. Because they want to see them more and because they are modern parents.
“So I think normal is partly true, but not in the way the rest of us probably would define it.”
Gilded Youth by Tom Quinn, published by Biteback, is available in hardback at £15.
*This story has not been edited by The Infallible staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.
