Kate: ‘I feel mum guilt all the time’
She’s royally just like us
The royal family have been getting more and more candid in the last few years, and that definitely includes the Duchess of Cambridge – who seems to have stepped up her public duties in the wake of her brother-in-law stepping back from his. Last week, Kate appeared on Giovanna Fletcher’s podcast Happy Mum, Happy Baby to promote her “5 Big Questions” survey on children’s development – and went into detail about her own parenting experiences. Proving she’s no different from your average parent – wealth and palaces aside – the 38 year old admitted to feeling “mum guilt”. “Anyone who doesn’t as a mother is actually lying,” she told Giovanna. “Even this morning… George and Charlotte were like, ‘Mummy, how could you possibly not be dropping us off at school this morning?’ There’s such a pull, but I am a hands-on mum, and whatever you’re doing, you want to make sure you’re doing the best job you can for your children.”
Kate – who is mum to George, six, Charlotte, four, and 20-month-old Louis – recalled her nerves when she first became a parent, and had to walk out of the hospital to speak to the waiting press with newborn Prince George in her arms.
She admitted she and Prince William made the decision to do so because, “Everyone had been so supportive, and both William and I were really conscious that this was something that everyone was excited about. [We were] hugely grateful for the support that the public had shown us, and for us to be able to share that joy and appreciation with the public, I felt, was really important.”
It was clear even Prince William had felt the pressure to immediately look like a capable parent, as Kate revealed they had practised strapping in the car seat beforehand, so they didn’t fluff it in front of everyone. “We were like, ‘What do we do?’” said Kate. “How’s this supposed to work? We’d even tried to practise with a little doll at home, but it just never works out the way you planned it, so it was quite hard to do that on the world’s stage. But no, he did a very good job.” ■
‘I’m a hands-on mum. You do your best’