Whilst Prince William and Princess Kate Middleton have all the resources at their disposal that come from being two of the most senior members of the Royal Family – including the Duchy of Cornwall, which William inherited when he became Prince of Wales – they still face many of the same struggles as parents up and down the country when it comes to taking care of their three kids, Prince George, 11, Princess Charlotte, nine, and Prince Louis, six.
Hands-on parents who are said to prefer to handle daily tasks like cooking dinner and doing the school run themselves, Kate and William have encouraged their children since they were younger to play outside and helped develop their interest in sports, but they still have been forced to implement one particularly strict rule on their eldest son Prince George at home – and it’s something seriously relatable.
Prince William revealed the rule that he and Kate have to carefully implement in their home during an official royal engagement two years ago, when he admitted that they were still trying to “regulate” the screen time of their eldest child, George. During a visit to BAFTA’s headquarters – William has been president of BAFTA since 2010 – in 2022, the future King admitted that George was seriously “fascinated” by video games, and this meant he and Kate had to work hard to make sure that the royal youngster wasn’t spending too much time glued to a screen – a struggle many parents are familiar with.
“At the moment it’s trying to regulate the gaming… monitoring screen time. Got to be careful of that,” William explained during the visit. “They’re fascinated by it. George particularly. He’s more interested in it. The other two are a bit too small at the moment but they love the films. I adore film and gaming as well.”
As reported by Sky News, a study has shown that too much screen time can present “multiple risks” to the overall well-being of children, including raising issues in friendships, lower levels of concentration, and higher levels of hyperactivity. With Kate devoting much of her royal spotlight to the importance of early years development – and palace sources previously calling it her “life’s work” – it’s likely that these concerns about too much screen time are at the forefront of the Prince and Princess of Wales‘ minds as they work to regulate how much time their kids spend on electronic devices.