Modern Royal Parents: Prince William and Kate Middleton Refuse to Be an 'Absentee' Dad and Mom to Their Children

Prince William and Kate, Princess of Wales, will become the first King and Queen of Great Britain to have been truly laid-back, modern royal parents.

"We can defend the couple in that this is what it looks like when royals prioritize their children and their home life," royal expert Gareth Russell dished.

"The reason why it seems so low is that the previous generations of royals did not do this, with the result that they were often painted by their children and by many of their subjects as being absentee parents," he added. "They weren't there enough for their children. There inevitably has to be a trade-off in this. You can either have royals who commit to as many engagements as the Queen Mother or the Queen or Prince Philip did."

Amid William and Kate being criticized as "lazy" for a low number of royal duties throughout 2023, Russell highlighted the positive in this lack of representation.

"But the upshot of that is that they won't spend as much time day-to-day with their children. Or you have royals like Prince William and Catherine, who do less public engagements when they have very young children," Russell continued. "So either you have royals who continue to work as publicly and as often as they did before, or you have royals who perhaps raise happier families."

Russell further observed: "And bearing in mind the expectation is that one day William and Catherine will have the fullest schedule of all and hopefully that will be when their children are grown. It's worth noting, that of all the royals ahead of them, none of them have young children. So this is what it looks like when the family part of the royal family takes precedence for the first time."

But parenting has not come easy for the future king and queen.

"William and Kate have three children with very different demands. We know poor George has been feeling rather under the cosh lately because school life is about being tested," royal expert Jennie Bond dished. "So this half-term holiday may not be quite like his previous holidays and could involve a certain amount of revision. That will be doubly hard with his sister and little brother having all the fun, but I’m sure William and Kate will find a healthy balance that will allow George to join in most of the time," Bond stated.

She continued: "George will be their priority right now because of his exams and his future schooling to consider. Charlotte is relatively carefree, but as the only girl, she’ll no doubt command special attention. Louis is the little kid on the block — probably getting away with murder while their parents are too busy with the others to chastise him!"

GBN interviewed Russell.