Prince William on how he’ll ‘cope’ with 3 kids: ‘I’m going to be permanently tired’
February 9, 2018
Prince William attended the Centrepoint Awards last night because they were held at Kensington Palace, which is where he lives. He’s the royal patron for Centrepoint, and it’s been one of his most consistent patronages, meaning he has shown up to do work for Centrepoint on a somewhat regular basis for years. At the awards, William joked around with various guests about how the Duchess of Cambridge is expecting:
Speaking to Raymond Stoner, boss of Anston Properties, William said: “Our third child is due in April, I’m getting as much sleep as I can.” Mr Stoner suggested he could save time by having twins, to which William replied: “Twins? I think my mental health would be tested with twins.” The future King also told another supporter at the awards ceremony: “Two is fine, I don’t know how I’m going to cope with three, I’m going to be permanently tired.”
I’ve often said this, and I’ll say it again – I think William play-acts this idea of I’m-just-a-normal-bloke and it often comes across that way, meaning he seems like he’s just playing a part. No one believes that William will be tired when the third baby comes, because no one believes that he’s that hands-on with his kids when they’re babies anyway. Even Kate admitted once that William was barely around when George was a baby, and it didn’t seem like he was much better during Charlotte’s first year either. You know who’s going to be “permanently tired”? Poor Nanny Maria. And Carole Middleton will probably be exhausted too.
That Hello piece also made note of something to keep your eye on: the Cambridges will probably be on vacation next week! Apparently, George has his “half-term break” this coming week, and Charlotte’s nursery school will be off too. William and Kate have nothing on their schedule until the BAFTAs. Perhaps a week and a half in Mustique?
Also: William got a lot of headlines this week for comments he made at a discussion with kids about cyberbullying and mental health. William told the audience – of boys and girls – that he feels sorry for girls in particular:
Prince William made a surprise visit to Ark Burlington Danes Academy on Thursday to talk to students about cyberbullying. At one point, the Duke of Cambridge spoke about society’s unrealistic beauty standards for women and criticized the vast amount of “fakeness” and “touched up” pictures across the web.
“I worry for you girls … so don’t try and recreate or think that’s what, you know, you’ve got to aim for,” he said. “There’s a lot of fakeness online so don’t worry about that.”
Students Samara Hackett-Valton and Sophie Crowder, both 15, acknowledged the pressures William described.
Joined by British rapper Professor Green and YouTube star Daniel Howell, William said he didn’t grow up with the same online influences kids face today.
“The online world is a whole new sphere that we never had to deal with,” he said. “If you’re trying to do your normal life and trying to get that right and make friends then you’ll also try and do that online, that’s a lot of pressure guys.”
I’m feeling rather meh about this as a controversy – do I think William could have articulated this better? Sure. Do I think he came across as mildly sexist and patronizing with “I worry for you girls”? Sure, but I don’t believe he meant it that way at all. This is William trying to be a bloke-y big brother type to the youngsters: he’s trying to talk to them at their level and he just didn’t say it the right way.
Photos courtesy of Getty, WENN.
