Wills deserves praise

AS THE father of a three-year-old girl, I know the importance of achieving a satisfying work/home balance.

I consider myself one of the lucky ones, able to collect her from nursery after I finish work at five o’clock and spend the rest of the evening with her.

My wife works nights in London, so the parental responsibility falls to me during the week.

I’m a firm believer that a child’s most important and formative years are the first three, so I find myself agreeing wholeheartedly with Prince William’s decision to spend less time on royal engagements and more time with his family.

These initial years with his children are ones that can never be relived, and he’s in a unique position to ‘down tools’ and concentrate on his family life. There will always be a time in the future for his royal ambassadorial role and associated tasks.

There are, indeed, parents who aren’t able to spend the time that they would like with their children, due to career commitments. But to suggest, as Jan Moir does (Mail), that William has ‘no royal grasp on reality’ and uses ‘Marie Antoinette- style utterances’ is clearly incorrect.

William is perhaps our most loved royal and, as such, has no need to ‘work much harder to win our love’.

Our great nation’s love for the Prince (and his brother) is one that has been enduring and increasing since the death of their beloved mother, and the common consensus would be that William would make a more suitable king than even his father.

At 33, he has his life ahead of him with his family and I can’t think anyone would begrudge him taking a back seat to nurture and raise his young family.

If he and his wife support their children half as well as Diana and Charles raised both William and Harry, we would all consider Prince William’s actions completely justifiable.

A. JEFFERY, Maidstone, Kent.