Prince William, future British monarch, is getting a jump on the learning curve of parenthood. At the same time, he is facing the challenges caused by recent cancer diagnoses in his family. At 43 years old, he is a devoted father to three children: Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis, with his wife, Kate, the Princess of Wales.
In March 2024, Kate made her cancer diagnosis public—adding another layer of complication to their family life. After completing chemotherapy, she shared publicly in January that she is officially in remission. This announcement has had the painful coincidence of arriving a few months after King Charles III—Prince William’s grandfather—was himself diagnosed with cancer in February 2024. These tragedies have led to an increased awareness of the need for open and honest communication between their family members.
Prince William and Kate work hard to be as available to their kids as possible. They’ve gone so far as to set a family rule that forbids their kids from owning smartphones, which has led to some heated family arguments. Prince William expressed concerns about the content children can access online, stating his belief that “children can access too much stuff they don’t need to see online.” He’s an advocate for taking a less complicated approach to technology. In fact, he proposes that “the old type of brick phone” would be just fine for their kids.
In one particularly candid moment during the interview with Brazilian journalist Luciano Huck, Prince William discussed the day-to-day routine of being a father. He was in Brazil to help celebrate the recent fifth anniversary of his Earthshot Prize. His time now is taken up with school runs, play dates, sports days, and time spent chasing around playing in the garden.
“Play dates, taxi driver, sports days, matches, playing in the garden when I can,” – Prince William
Beyond teaching them about money, he shared how much he valued the ongoing communication he had with his children. “We choose to communicate a lot more with our children… sometimes, you feel like you’re oversharing with your children and like you probably shouldn’t, but most of the time, hiding stuff from them doesn’t work.” Yet he intuitively understood that keeping this balance is the constant struggle with which all parents grapple.
“But it is always a balancing act — every parent knows that,” – Prince William
Prince William’s commitment to social issues goes deeper than his royal duties. This vision for change led him to create the Earthshot Prize in 2020, to look for solutions to the world’s most pressing environmental challenges. The 2023 Earthshot Prize Awards Ceremony shone brightly in Rio de Janeiro. It highlighted cutting-edge solutions that are directly addressing climate change. Looking forward, the 2025 United Nations Climate Change Conference—or COP30—will take place in Belém.
