Prince William Made a Heartbreaking Admission About His Childhood to Princess Kate After She Explained a Very Normal Activity

A new royal tell-all book is hitting shelves this month, and in an excerpt from Tom Quinn's Yes Ma'am: The Secret Life of Royal Servants, published in the Times Feb. 6, the royal author reveals a story about Prince William that will tug at anyone's heartstrings.

Quinn interviewed a number of current and former palace staffers for the book, which promises to give "a glimpse into the hidden lives of the royal family, along with the complexities of being royal in a modern world." One such story comes from a maid at Kensington Palace, who shared an interaction she witnessed between Prince William and Kate Middleton, who, of course, grew up outside of palace walls.

“Kate had to explain many of the things that parents outside the royal family do with their children as a matter of course—she had to show him how to give the children a piggyback, for example," the staffer claimed. The source went on to say that after his wife told him what to do, "William said very quietly, 'My father never gave me a piggyback.'"

The heartbreaking claim didn't extend to Princess Diana, however; the late royal was seen giving her kids piggybacks in several photos over the years and strived to give Prince William and Prince Harry a more "normal" childhood.

Unlike The King, William—who is father to Prince George, 11, Princess Charlotte, 9, and Prince Louis, 6—has been spotted carrying his kids on his shoulders at various off-duty events over the years.

However, Quinn's book also points out a more "fractious" side of the Prince of Wales. “They both get irritated very quickly,” one former palace employee said of William and his father, The King. “They are very picky. It comes naturally to them.”

The ex-staffer even claimed that Princess Kate needs to mother him at times. "I don’t know where William would be without Kate—she hasn’t had everything done for her throughout her life, so she calms him down when he gets a bit fractious," the source said. "She said he sometimes has to be treated as her fourth child.”

However, Kate's parents, Carole and Michael Middleton, have stepped in as surrogate parents for William over the years, with royal expert Ingrid Seward claiming that the Prince of Wales has found a "traditional family" in his in-laws.

Yes Ma’am: The Secret Life of Royal Servants will be released on Feb. 25 in the United States and Feb. 18 in the U.K.