Prince William has his hands full raising his three children while simultaneously performing his many, daily royal duties. By all accounts, William and Kate are doing their best to ensure that Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis have as normal an upbringing as possible – after all, William knows the value of that from his own childhood.
In recent years, the future king has taught his children about right and wrong, while giving them vital insights into how the world works. Not everyone has so easy a life as the Royal Family, but that doesn’t mean the members of the monarchy don’t have their own burdens to bear.
While the Royal Family do have millions upon millions in the bank, William and co. have issues to contend with just as everyone else does, ever if some are smaller than others. Recently, Prince William made a significant change to his appearance by growing a beard, and it appears that his daughter, Charlotte, had quite a strong opinion about it…
Prince William, Kate Middleton, and the rest of the Royal Family will be happy to put a difficult year behind them. Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis have seen their mother and grandfather go through cancer treatment, with both diagnosed early in 2024.
Luckily, things are beginning to look up. Kate Middleton recently declared she is cancer-free, and King Charles‘ treatment appears to be going in the right direction, with doctors clearing him to pause his treatment for a tour of Australia and Samoa earlier this fall.
While the Prince William and Kate Middleton have a few weeks left of royal duties before they get a well-deserved Christmas break, the couple continue to support their children in the best way possible. The Waleses have always worked hard to raise their children in the most conventional way possible, but that isn’t always easy. Being a royal child and having things on a silver platter is something that George, Charlotte, and Louis’ parents don’t want them to take for granted.
One way William does this is by taking inspiration from his own childhood. Already at a young age, Princess Diana made sure to raise William and Harry as normally as possible, even taking them to fast-food restaurants and letting them ride the subway.
How is Prince William raising Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis?
The beloved princess, who tragically passed away in a car accident in Paris in 1997, age 36, was a royal patron of the UK’s leading homelessness charity Centrepoint, and wanted to share the stories of those less fortunate individuals with her children.
In a new ITV Documentary, Prince William: We Can End Homelessness, the future king explained that Princess Diana often spoke with him and Harry about people without a home and even took them to a homeless shelter.
“When you are that small, you are just curious and trying to work out what’s going on. You ask the question, ‘Why are they sitting there?’ My mother would talk to us a bit about why they were there and it definitely made a really big impact,” Prince William said.
“My mother took me to The Passage; she took Harry and I both there. I must have been 11 at the time, maybe 10. I had never been to anything like that before, and I was a bit anxious about what to expect,” William continued, adding that he had some good conversations, playing chess and chatting, and that’s when it dawned on me that there were other people out there who don’t have the same life as you do.”
“My mother went about her usual, making everyone feel relaxed, having a laugh and joking with everyone,” he concluded. “I remember at the time kind of thinking, ‘Well, if everyone doesn’t have a home, they’re all going to be really sad.’ But it was incredible how happy an environment it was.”
Prince William teaches his children that “some of us need a helping hand.”
Diana taught William and his now-estranged brother a vital life lesson by taking them to homeless shelters. Now, the Prince of Wales is doing the same with Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis.
In the ITV documentary, William explained that he believes it’s essential to start talking with his children about homelessness and what it means at an early age “so they understand the world around them, rather than just living in their own worlds.”
Speaking with the Sunday Times, he revealed he wants George, Charlotte, and Louis to know that “some of us need a helping hand.”
“My mother introduced me to the cause of homelessness from quite a young age, and I’m really glad she did,” William explained.
“I think when I can balance it with their schooling, they will definitely be exposed to it. On the school run, we talk about what we see. When we were in London, driving backwards and forwards, we regularly used to see people sitting outside supermarkets and we’d talk about it.”
He continued: “I’d say to the children, ‘Why are they there? What’s going on?’ I think it’s in all our interests, it’s the right thing to do, to expose the children, at the right stage, in the right dialogue, so they have an understanding.”
Prince William grows a beard
Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis aren’t caught up in the royal feud between their parents and their uncle, Prince Harry, nor are they concerned with certain other issues the Royal Family faces, such as scheduling or criticism from the public.
At present, their everyday lives consist of school, breaks, and holidays. In short, there’s not too much for them to worry about outside of the usual things a child might be concerned by.
That said, one thing has changed in recent months — and Prince William revealed that it brought his daughter, Charlotte, to tears.
You may have noticed that Prince William and the rest of the Royal Family don’t usually change their appearance. They usually settle on a look (preferably a traditional, conservative one) and then tend to keep to that style almost their entire lives. Which is why Prince William’s decision to alter his appearance was made into such a big thing.
It all began when the future king and Kate Middleton congratulated the Great Britain Olympic Team this summer. In a video, William rocked an edgy look – with a beard.
The scruffy beard appeared to be a big hit among royal fans, and it turned out that the new facial hair wasn’t a one-time thing.
Princess Charlotte was left in ‘floods of tears’ after seeing her father with a beard
William kept his beard during the Sovereign’s Parade at the Royal Air Force College Cranwell. It didn’t take long before social media had been flooded with comments about the future king’s new style.
“You MUST keep the beard,” one fan wrote, while another detailed a checklist including “beard, uniform, Prince … yeah, I’m sold,” one person wrote per Fox.
“With all due respect Your Highness the Prince of Wales you are just taking our breath away with this beard pls keep it,” a second fan added.
While royal fans praised William for his new look, not everyone was happy. His daughter, Princess Charlotte, was outraged that his father had grown a beard and wanted him to shave it off. During a visit to Cape Town earlier in November, William revealed Charlotte’s furious reaction.
“Charlotte didn’t like it the first time. I got floods of tears the first time I grew a beard, so I had to shave it off. And then I grew it back. I thought, hang on a second and I convinced her it was going to be okay,” he said.
The interviewer continued to remark that William looked more “relaxed” with his beard. He answered rather ironically, saying, “It’s interesting you say that, because I couldn’t be less relaxed this year, so it’s very interesting you’re all seeing that. But it’s more a case of just cracking on, and you’ve got to keep going.”
Why don’t the men of the Royal Family typically wear beards?
The concept of beards and the Royal Family has not always been an harmonious one. In his memoir, Spare, Harry, who has worn a beard for over a decade, revealed that his facial hair caused tensions in his relationship with William. For Harry, he said, the beard was like a “security blanket.” His wife, Meghan Markle, had never seen him without it.
“I didn’t want her coming down the aisle and seeing a total stranger,” he wrote.
Even though a beard wasn’t preferred, Queen Elizabeth II allowed Harry to wear it. The estranged prince claimed William “bristled” when Harry was allowed to have the beard, ordering his little brother to “shave it off.” Harry asked his brother why he was irritated, to which William replied, “Because I wasn’t allowed to keep my beard.”
“I explained it to my brother and he… bristled?” Harry wrote in Spare. “I gave him a quick history lesson, I mentioned the many royals who’d been bearded. King Edward VII. King George V. Prince Albert. More recently, Prince Michael of Kent. Helpfully I referred him to Google Images. ‘Not the same,’ he said. When I informed him that his opinion didn’t really matter, since I’d already gone to Granny and got the green light, he became livid.”
Harry continued: “He raised his voice. ‘You went to ask her!’ Yes. ‘And what did Granny say?’ She said ‘keep the beard’. ‘You put her in an uncomfortable position, Harold! She had no choice but to say yes.’ No choice? She’s the Queen! If she didn’t want me to have a beard I think she can speak for herself.”
“He was being ridiculous”
Later, when William returned from a military assignment, he also sported a full beard. However, he was told to share it off, and Harry claimed his brother “hated the idea of me enjoying a perk he’d been denied.”
“He was being ridiculous, and I told him so. But he kept getting angrier and angrier. Finally I told him flatly and defiantly that his bearded brother was getting married soon, and he could either get on board or not. The choice was up to him,” the Duke added.
Time will tell if Prince William will keeping his beard long-term, but for now, royal fans who thinks he suits it will continue to be happy. Perhaps he will be Santa for Christmas – and that’s surely one thing Princess Charlotte might appreciate about his beard.