Princess Kate’s Upbringing Outside of the Royal Fold Helps Heir to the Throne Prince George Balance Childhood and Royal Duties

Princess Kate is a different kind of royal parent, and it’s paying off in the lives of her three children Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis. George, who will be 10 this month and is heir to the throne, has a much different upbringing than his grandfather, King Charles, and even his father, Prince William. It’s a delicate balance of as normal a childhood as possible and beginning to tap into his royal duty, People reports, and Kate is spearheading the charge.

“It’s a massive balancing act,” a Palace insider tells the outlet. “William and Kate are doing the right thing, protecting him so he can have as normal a childhood as possible, but he’s also dipping into duties as a future monarch.”

The source adds “He’s getting firsthand experience of what it’s like to be a royal and a monarch and firsthand experience of being a normal boy.”

One way he is embracing his future role in the royal family is through serving as a Page of Honor at the King’s Coronation in May. While his younger siblings Charlotte and Louis were in attendance at the ceremony, George made history as the youngest future king to play an official role in a Coronation.

“He was terrific,” a close family friend tells People. Both William and Kate knew the pressure George would face in the role, but also knew he was up for the task: “The service was emotional and family-oriented and very inclusive—and George played his part,” a guest tells the outlet. 

Though in the public eye, at home inside Adelaide Cottage, George’s life is very different than the heirs that came before him. People reports that is in large part thanks to Kate, who grew up outside the royal fold.

“Coming from a different background, she appreciates the importance of having family time,” a source close to the royal household tells People. “She wasn’t brought up in that aristocratic setting where you see the children for a short time each day.” 

Kate regularly drives her kids to school and makes sure either she or William is home in the evening when they arrive. People reports that the Wales family often gathers in the kitchen to make kid-friendly dinners and decorate cakes. “The princess asked if we make our own dough and said that they love making pizzas with their children,” says Pete Morris, whose Little Dragon Pizza Van was visited by Kate in April.

On her 2020 appearance on the “Happy Mum, Happy Baby” podcast, Kate said she was happiest when “I’m with my family outside in the countryside, and we’re all filthy dirty.” It’s all a part of William and Kate’s concerted effort at normalcy: The couple “consciously set out to achieve a sense of normality,” a source says. The two were expressly permitted by both Queen Elizabeth and the then Prince Charles to focus on their family above royal duties, and it has paid off. 

“Royal families over the generations haven’t had the chance to get those foundations right, but they have,” a friend says.