“Never go home empty-handed.” It’s one of Prince William‘s mottos as a dad. He said it during a visit to the NFL Foundation, which assists boys and girls living in the most vulnerable areas of the United Kingdom, when he was given a rugby ball to take home to his children, Princes George and Louis and Princess Charlotte. “They will appreciate it very much,” he added. As distant as they may seem from the daily and “normal” life of all of us, William and Kate, Prince and Princess of Wales, loved carving out moments of family life, as they often told and showed with some photographs published on social media. Among these, there is the one that shows Charlotte and Luis, sitting next to each other while watching the European football match last June.
Even arguments are what many brothers and sisters of all ages have in common. An evergreen is the dispute for who holds the remote control while watching television. At an event dedicated to film and TV, William joked that his three children constantly compete for control of the remote control. Even for them, watching a film together is not an easy mission. The contention also applies to friendship bracelets. Princess Charlotte sported them for the first time on the opening night of Taylor Swift’s tour in London, which she attended with her father and older brother George, who in turn had one in his eleventh birthday portrait . The entire royal family seems to be passionate about it, so much so that during a visit to a school in Wales, Prince William received bracelets from a pupil for his children. «Thank you so much Ruby. They will love them, you will see them around”, thanked the Prince of Wales, adding: «I will keep them away from Louis because he will try to steal them from his sister».
There is also no shortage of ironic jokes that make your children laugh (to tell one of them, Prince William performed the sound of a cow) but also ways to manage the tension of exam day. In June, at a D-Day commemoration event in Portsmouth, the Prince of Wales recounted the day of Charlotte’s exam. When a student asked him where his daughter was, William replied: «Charlotte is at school, she has exams today. He couldn’t wait to face them this morning.” Then, with a superstitious gesture, he crossed his fingers.
William and Kate demonstrate that, despite the ceremonies and protocols, their way of parenting also focuses on simplicity. Even amidst their royal commitments, they manage to find space for games, routine family rituals, and pranks. And perhaps this is precisely what makes them so authentic.
