Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge and Prince William have both been open about the mantras they’ve chosen to follow when it comes to raising their children.
They both feel passionately about nurturing children’s mental health, with the Duchess saying she wouldn’t hesitate to go to an expert for help if Prince George and Princess Charlotte needed it.
Similarly, Prince William, who lost his mum Princess Diana at the age of just 15, has talked about how important it is to talk about your feelings with your family and be comfortable with emotions such as sadness.
Together with Prince Harry, the royal couple founded Heads Together, an initiative involving eight mental health charities that aims to change the conversation around mental health.
Kate, in particular, has also openly acknowledged how exposed and vulnerable becoming a parent can make you feel – earlier this year, sharing at an event that was again in support of children’s mental health that becoming a parent has sometimes left her feeling a “lack of confidence” and “feelings of ignorance”.
And so with all of this to consider you can only imagine how difficult it must be to also have to cope with the extra social pressures that come with being part of the royal family.
We all hope our kids will keep it together when we’re out in public or attending a formal event, but imagine the extra scrutiny that comes with being a royal. Some of the events that the Windsor family attend are extremely formal.
In our experience, whenever we’re desperate for our kids to behave beautifully, that’s when they’re most likely to play up – it’s like they sense the extra pressure and react accordingly, as only kids can.
These are the rules that Kate and Wills have to teach Prince George and Princess Charlotte and their soon-to-be-born third child, so that their behaviour in public is fittingly royal:
Prince William and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge role model perfectly how to sit at a formal engagement.
Oops, hand in pocket. Well, he’s only little.
Sit up properly
There’s no slouching allowed when you’re a member of the royal family. Luckily kids seem to have perfectly straight backs when they’re wee, but it will be Kate and Wills’ job to continue to remind their kids as they’re growing up that wherever they go they must sit up straight, with a perfectly straight spine and legs straight out in front with feet straight on the ground. Charlotte will never be allowed to sit with her legs crossed; she will only ever be permitted to cross her legs at the ankles.
Perfect posture is also required when standing, with feet shoulder width apart, the chin slightly lifted, and the knees bent a little.
No hands in pockets.
Tradition dictates that everyone at the table has to stop eating when the Queen does.
No eating after Grandma has finished her meal
One of the oldest rules in the royal book is that everybody at the table stops eating when the Queen does. This tradition has been followed for centuries, and is still acknowledged today.
The royal couple would have had to start teaching their children this when they became toddlers. Some kids are pretty slow eaters… maybe they get around it by feeding the children before they eat with the Queen? There is nobody more irrational than a hangry child!
It’s tradition for the royal family to attend church on the morning of Christmas Day.
You can’t open your Christmas presents on Christmas Day
Wait – what? Actually, there is a pro here… royal kids actually get to open their presents before Christmas Day.
While the rest of the world (that celebrates Christmas) opens gifts on Christmas morning, the British royal family follows an old German tradition where the presents are opened on Christmas Eve. On the eve, the family has a dinner together and then the parents go to the room with the Christmas tree and signal their children with a bell to come and open their presents.
On Christmas morning, the royal family attends a service at St. Mary Magdalene in Sandringham.
Good manners prevail, even at bedtime.
Be polite at all times
When Barack and Michelle Obama visited Kensington Palace they brought a rocking horse for Prince George, and it’s said he came out straight away in his PJs to thank them. Now that’s great manners!
To be polite and respectful of others, and show good manners, is something we all teach our kids, of course. But there’s an extra expectation on royal kids because of the many more formal occasions they find themselves attending, as well as the public scrutiny the royal family receives. Imagine having a wee royal poke their tongue out at an important dignatory or well-wishing fan!
The hand not really vertical or twisted there, but she’ll pick it up.
Vertical with a slight twist, tick!
Perfect your wave
The royal wave is how the Windsors acknowledge all who come out to see them. There is a trick to it – hold your hand vertical and add a slight twist of the wrist.
Apparently Prince William had the wave down pat by18 months and Prince George looks like he’s got it nailed too.
Learn more than one language
This is brilliant for their education anyway, with widely-recognised benefits to being bilingual or multi-lingual. But in the royals’ case it’s an expectation: Queen Elizabeth is fluent in French and Prince Phillip in French and German. Prince Harry speaks Arabic, Prince William is fluent in Welsh and French and Prince Charles speaks German and Welsh.
Children, and especially young children, find it much easier to pick up a second or third language than adults. The earlier you start them, the easier they find it. Prince George and Princess Charlotte are reportedly already learning the basics of Spanish.
Princess Charlotte’s first public tantrum.
But nobody expects perfection
Of course, when you’re tiny and cute and a long way off from understanding what’s going on around you, no one’s going to expect your behaviour to be perfect. And, in fact, the world seems to only find Prince William and Princess Charlotte even more adorable when they don’t get the protocol right. Who can forget Princess Charlotte’s adorable tantrum on the tarmac at Hamburg Airport on the last day of the family’s visit to Poland and Germany? And when Prince William looked decidedly unhappy about being there on the same said tour, our hearts melted.
There is no denying the extra social pressures that are placed on these kids, but with a mum and dad like Kate and Wills who prioritise their emotional care and actively advocate for children’s mental health, they couldn’t be in better hands.
