Even though Kate Middleton only joined the Royal Family in 2011 when she married Prince William, she has become an exemplary example of what a royal should be. Her sister-in-law Meghan Markle makes headlines for breaking all the rules. Kate, meanwhile, manages to perfectly walk the line between upholding royal tradition and being one of the few royals the average person can relate to.
And perhaps the primary reason we relate to Kate is how she has approached motherhood over the years. Despite being richer than God and having countless resources available to her, Kate minimizes using nannies or other intermediaries in favor of being an insanely active parent.
So active, in fact, that she sometimes broke with royal tradition. Just how has Kate broken the rules when it comes to raising her children? Keep reading to find out!
No fan of boarding school
As you might expect, many of the traditions of the Royal Family come from the traditions of wealthy English families. One of those biggest traditions? Traditionally, royals are shuffled off to boarding school at the tender age of eight years old.
However, once Kate Middleton’s eldest son George turned eight, he didn’t head to boarding school. Instead, he continued to go to his nearby day school, and this has the happy side effect of keeping him closer to his mother.
This decision has helped George and his siblings make more friends than they likely would have made in boarding school. But mostly, this decision helps keep Kate close to his family. As one source familiar with the matter told OK! that “Kate can’t fathom what it’ll be like coming home after a busy day and not being able to see George’s face.”
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Providing a normal(ish) upbringing for the children
In recent years, the behavior of Kate Middleton’s children during public events has made headlines. The most recent prominent example of this is when Prince Louis made faces, sassed his mother, and generally showed his ass at last year’s Trooping the Colour event.
Now, Kate has a very different approach to handling her kids’ meltdowns than the generations before her (more on this later). However, in a weird way, the occasional child meltdown is evidence that Kate has done her best to provide a relatively normal upbringing for her famous children.
As the body language expert Judi James told the Daily Mail, the kids “are not only allowed to be playful, fun, spontaneous and even cheeky in public, they are actively encouraged by their mum and dad.” In other words, we’re only seeing the kids occasionally acting up because Kate is okay with letting the children be children instead of encouraging them to act like robots when representing the Royal Family on the national and international stage.
Very hands-on with her kids
One of the biggest ways that Kate Middleton bucked royal tradition with her parenting is that she decided she was going to be a very hands-on mom. And that helps her resonate with parents everywhere that have no other choice but to be hands-on parents.
For example, William and Kate come from a royal tradition of basically paying nannies and a small army of staff that could (and often would) effectively raise children while the parents attended royal duties. However, as royal expert Tom Quinn told Fox News, “I think they are the first generation that you could almost say they’ve broken the mold of this very traditional royal upbringing where you basically pay other people to do all the work, and you only see your children for half an hour a day.”
Look closely during royal events, and you’ll notice that, more often than not, Kate is personally managing her children rather than leaving this to a chaperone or two. And in their day-to-day lives, it’s not uncommon for Kate to personally drop her children off and pick them up.
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Moving the family out of the city
Kate Middleton has often said that she wants to give her children a relatively normal childhood. But she really put her money where her mouth was when she decided to move the kids out of London in 2022, so the family could live out in the country in Windsor instead.
There are two primary reasons why William and Kate made this decision. The first (and very understandable) reason is that they previously lived in Kensington Palace, where they couldn’t take two steps without running into another royal. Even when you happen to like the other royals, things start to feel a bit cramped.
The second (and related) reason is that the kids needed more space to pursue some of their own interests. As one source dished to Us Weekly, with this new home, “Charlotte can go horse riding in the open air and George can play football on extensive grounds.”
Choosing to homeschool kids during the pandemic
Everyone had a different experience during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, one thing that almost all parents had in common during the pandemic is that they had to effectively become homeschool teachers when their children couldn’t attend school.
When she appeared on The Morning, Kate dished about not only stepping up to become a teacher but also navigating the unique and unexpected challenges. “George gets very upset because he wants to do all of Charlotte’s projects … making spider sandwiches is far cooler than literacy work.” While that does sound pretty cool, we can’t help but think that spider sandwiches probably taste a lot better than most British cuisine.
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Personally managing tiny tantrums
Remember when we said that most future Queens of England would rely on a nanny or staff to handle their children? One of the reasons this happens so often is that most royals simply can’t deal when their kids are having tiny tantrums.
However, as part of her being such a hands-on parent, Kate Middleton personally handles discipline, and she does so in a refreshing and modern way. She doesn’t yell or lose her temper (even when Louis is acting like a mad lad in front of the world), and she often gets down at eye level with her kids when laying down the law. As body language expert Martina Mercer shared with Express, “It removes the fear of the parent while utilizing eye contact and connecting with the child on their level.”
Therefore, next time you see Kate smiling through one of her kids’ royal meltdowns, just remember: she has people for this. But she resists sending kids to boarding schools and nannies because, at the end of the day, she’d rather be in the parenting trenches and fighting the good fight alongside the rest of us.