Kate Middleton Shares a Rare Glimpse Into Her Parenting Style in Her First-Ever Podcast Interview

Kate Middleton offered fans a rare look into her parenting style and shared stories from her childhood during a rare interview, her first-ever for a podcast.

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  • This week, the Duchess of Cambridge, Kate Middleton, achieved a new personal milestone: her first ever podcast interview.
  • The royal gave a rare interview to parenting podcast Happy Mum, Happy Baby to promote her new "Five Big Questions" survey as part of her Early Years initiative on early childhood development. 
  • In the interview, Kate discussed her own parenting style and how her childhood impacted it.

Kate Middleton is no longer a podcast virgin.

The Duchess of Cambridge gave a rare interview—and her first ever for a podcast—in a candid new interview for the Happy Mum, Happy Baby podcast.

Kate opened up about her parenting style and her own childhood, as well, in the conversation with Happy Mum, Happy Baby host Giovanna Fletcher.

When asked about the aspects of her own childhood that she'd like to pass on to her three children—Prince George, 6, Princess Charlotte, 4, and Prince Louis, 1—she shared:

"One is quality of relationships. So, those moments that you spend with people that are around you. I remember that from my own childhood. I had an amazing Granny who devoted a lot of time to us, playing with us, doing arts and crafts and going to the greenhouse to do gardening, and cooking with us, and I try and incorporate a lot of the experiences that she gave us at the time into the experiences that I give my children now.

"There are also the environments you spend time in as well: a happy home, a safe environment. As children, we spent a lot of time outside and it's something I'm really passionate about. I think it's so great for physical and mental wellbeing and laying [developmental] foundations. It's such a great environment to spend time in, building those quality relationships without the distractions of ‘I've got to cook' and ‘I've got to do this'. And actually, it's so simple."

Kate's podcast debut was part of her efforts to promote her new "Five Big Questions" survey as part of her Early Years initiative focused on early childhood development and the long-term impact of a child's most formative years. During her Happy Mum, Happy Baby interview, the royal explained that she hopes the new initiative creates "generational change."

"It's going to take a long time—I'm talking about a generational change—but hopefully this is the first small step: to start a conversation around the importance of Early Childhood development," she said. "It's not just about happy, healthy children. This is for lifelong consequences and outcomes."

The full episode of Happy Mum, Happy Baby featuring Kate's interview is available for download starting at 11 a.m. EST Saturday. 

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Kayleigh Roberts
Contributing Editor at Marie Claire

Kayleigh Roberts is a freelance writer and editor with over 10 years of professional experience covering entertainment of all genres, from new movie and TV releases to nostalgia, and celebrity news. Her byline has appeared in Marie Claire, Cosmopolitan, ELLE, Harper’s Bazaar, The Atlantic, Allure, Entertainment Weekly, MTV, Bustle, Refinery29, Girls’ Life Magazine, Just Jared, and Tiger Beat, among other publications. She's a graduate of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.