History isn't going to repeat itself in the royal family if Prince William has anything to say about it.
The Prince of Wales recently appeared on Eugene Levy's Apple TV+ series, The Reluctant Traveler, and it seemed like nothing was off-limits in the interview, which was easily one of the most candid William has ever given.
During his chat with the actor and comedian, William opened up about a range of topics, but even among the many candid insights he offered during the interview, the royal's comments about his parents' divorce stood out.
The topic came about when Levy asked William about his hopes for his and Kate Middleton's three children—Prince George, 12, Princess Charlotte, 10, and Prince Louis, 7—to have a "relatively normal home life," in spite of their royal status.
"I think it’s really important that that atmosphere is created at home," William said, according to People. "You have to have that warmth, that feeling of safety, security, love."
It's no secret that creating a sense of normalcy for his children is a top priority for William, who said the desire "definitely" started with his late mother, Princess Diana, who strove to do the same for him and his younger brother, Prince Harry.
"That all has to be there, and that was certainly part of my childhood," he said, before acknowledging that at least some of the normalcy and stability in his childhood home was upended, not by the demands of royal life, but by something that affects millions of children around the world—divorce. "My parents got divorced at 8, so that lasted a short period of time."
Then-Prince Charles, Prince William, and Princess Diana in 1995.
Diana married then-Prince Charles in July 1981 and welcomed William just under a year later, in June 1982. Although the strain in the couple's marriage reportedly started within just a few years, their separation and eventual divorce were complicated and slowed by their royal status. The couple publicly announced their separation in 1992 and finalized their divorce in August 1996, just over a year before Diana's death.
"You take that and you learn from it and you try and make sure you don’t do the same mistakes as your parents," William said during his Reluctant Traveler interview. "I think we all try and do that and I just want to do what’s best for my children, but I know that the drama and the stress when you’re small really affects you when you're older."
Specifically, William cited dealing with the media as something he saw his parents grapple with and that he now has to manage as a parent himself.
"Growing up, I saw that with my parents. The media were so insatiable back then. It’s hard to think of it now, but they were much more insatiable," he said of the royal family's relationship with the media in his childhood. "They wanted every bit of detail they could absorb, and they were in everything, literally everywhere. They would know things, they’d be everywhere."
Those early impressions of the media had a lasting impact on William, who sets firm boundaries around the media and. his own family now, as a husband and father.
"If you let that creep in, the damage it can do to your family life is something that I vowed would never happen to my family," he added. "And so, I take a very strong line about where I think that line is and those who overstep it, I’ll fight against."