I’ve said this many times before, but I genuinely think that the Duchess of Cambridge is a great mom and she loves being a simple upper-middle-class stay-at-home mom, doing the school runs and doing projects with the kids at Anmer Hall and that kind of stuff. While so much of Kate’s image is a carefully crafted persona, that has never felt false to me. She loves her children and motherhood is basically the only thing she gives a sh-t about. On the other hand, I’ve never bought into the image of William as a doting father – I think he’s largely tapped out and he leaves Kate to do the bulk of the child-rearing, despite the fussy, sugary narrative to the contrary. I think William has other country pursuits, you know? But because none of the royal reporters will actually talk about rose-bush-trimming, William gets credit for being the best royal parent ever, and raising the most well-adjusted kids ever:

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge saw lockdown as ‘a rare gift’ because royal children are usually ‘unavoidably denied the privilege of prolonged time with their parents’, a royal expert has claimed. Prince William, 38, and Kate Middleton, 38, spent the majority of the last six months at their Norfolk home of Anmer Hall with their children, Prince George, seven, Princess Charlotte, five, and Prince Louis, two.

Now royal commentator Victoria Arbiter has claimed the period gave the Cambridge children a ‘privilege generations of royal youngsters have unavoidably been denied — prolonged time at home with just Mum and Dad’. Writing for Australian site 9Honey, she said the children would likely be ‘the most well-adjusted generation the royals have ever known’, adding: ‘For George, Charlotte and Louis a lifetime of duty eventually awaits, but thanks to the relative normality their childhood affords, their royal calling will feel less like a prison sentence and more one to be proud of.’

The royal commentator said the couple have ‘set a royal parenting precedent’ with their techniques. Victoria wrote that Prince William has long ‘strived’ to provide his children with the ‘stability he once craved’.

Meanwhile, she added that Kate’s parents Carole and Michael Middleton have ‘remained at the heart of the Cambridges’ existence’ and offer a ‘stabilising force’ to the family unit. She wrote: ‘Given his admiration for their solid middle-class values and hands-on style, it’s hardly surprising Carole and Mike play such a significant role in their grandchildren’s upbringing.’

She commented that the combination of Kate’s focus on early years education and the Middleton’s ‘nurturing presence’, alongside Prince William’s focus on mental well being and the Windsor traditions, would lead the Cambridge children ‘to be the most well-adjusted generation the royals have ever known.’ Meanwhile Victoria added that Prince William and Kate are ‘paving the way’ for ‘royal children of tomorrow’ with their parenting techniques.

[From The Daily Mail]

I mean, Princess Diana was really the one who changed the way royal children are raised. Diana and Charles both wanted William and Harry to have real childhoods too, and they tried their best to keep the kids out of their own dramas. I think “stability” is an interesting word choice there – the stability William craved, meaning no divorce, no tabloid war, etc. Fair enough. But what William and Kate have actually created is just a throwback to the way most aristocratic families operated for centuries. The wife at home with the kids while the husband gallivants around the countryside, trimming rose bushes.

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