While Prince William and Princess Kate Try to Treat Their 3 Kids Equally, Royal Life Means Prince George Sometimes Has to Come First: Expert

Being—and raising—a future King is a lot to handle.

Prince William, Kate Middleton, Prince George, Princess Charlotte, Prince Louis
(Image credit: Getty/The Prince and Princess of Wales/Matt Porteous)

Prince George turned 10 years old this past weekend, and as such royal commentators everywhere are looking into his life so far—including his royal upbringing and his home life with siblings Princess Charlotte, 8, and Prince Louis, 5.

In particular, people are pretty interested in how differently George is being raised from his siblings, given that his destiny is to eventually become King of the United Kingdom.

This is a little tricky, because his parents Prince William and Princess Kate are certainly invested in giving all three of their children the same loving, supportive upbringing, but they're also highly aware of George's different role in the public realm.

"I think that in any family, you treat your kids much the same. Generally, the youngest gets a bit more favor to the eldest who generally has to get on with it. Just because George is going to be King at a much, much later date, I don't think that will make any difference at all to the dynamics of family life," royal expert Jennie Bond told OK!.

"I think they would allow their children to just be kids and let them fool around over the breakfast table or dance around the kitchen. So I think in the domestic arena, they would be treated absolutely equally."

Bond's theory was proven when William admitted that George and Charlotte fight every morning to be the one to choose the song they'll dance to that day—with Shakira's "Waka Waka" being a Wales family firm favorite. That's definitely some normal family silliness right there.

With that in mind, George does have to be treated somewhat differently when it comes to public appearances.

"There is the slightly different situation that they will have had to explain to Charlotte and Louis that George does go first, George walks in front, George has a bigger role at the Coronation and George does this that you don't do, so I suppose they will gently have explained it," Bond said. Makes sense.

Iris Goldsztajn
Morning Editor

Iris Goldsztajn is a London-based journalist, editor and author. She is the morning editor at Marie Claire, and her work has appeared in the likes of InStyle, Cosmopolitan, Bustle and Shape. Iris writes about everything from celebrity news and relationship advice to the pitfalls of diet culture and the joys of exercise. She has many opinions on Harry Styles, and can typically be found eating her body weight in cheap chocolate.