Prince William and Kate Middleton have not traveled a lot in the last year following the Princess of Wales’s recovery from the cancer she was diagnosed with in early 2024. This has meant more time with their children, Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis, but the reality about being a senior working member of the Royal Family is that they will eventually have to commit to more trips away from their babies.
Because of the pandemic, William and Kate were able to spend a lot of time with their children, and were gifted a year or two at home with them without the need to travel abroad. Prince George and Princess Charlotte have actually joined them on a few trips, while Prince Louis is still waiting for his first journey.
And though the Prince and Princess of Wales haven’t been away from their children for any great length of time, the sheer idea of leaving them must be – as for any parent – tough. According to a royal expert, Kate Middleton has struggled with such feelings a lot, while during a 2022 overseas tour things became unbearable.
A big part – or the biggest part– of being a senior member of the Royal Family is about representing it across the country and sometimes in other parts of the world. Prince William and Kate Middleton have been overseas on different missions many times, and they have even taken their two eldest children with them on occasion. Prince Louis, meanwhile, is still waiting on his first royal tour.
Prince George, Princess Charlotte & Prince Louis
Luckily, when the children don’t go overseas with their parents, there are plenty of people to help William and Kate take care of them. Not only is their nanny, Maria Borrallo, always on hand, but then there are other family members, particularly those on Kate’s side.
Her parents Carole and Michael Middleton have always supported their daughter and her siblings. And when they became grandparents, it was, of course, with immense joy.
Today, besides Kate’s sister Pippa Middleton’s three children, and brother James’s young baby boy, Carole and Michael have their hands full as Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis grow up. They reportedly spend a lot of time with their grandparents, who live in Berkshire, not far from Adelaide Cottage.
While Kate was at home recovering from her cancer treatment, Carole and Michael Middleton were critical in helping care for George, Charlotte, and Louis.
“Her parents are an enduring factor in the upbringing of their grandchildren,” a source told People Magazine. “And they will be a reassuring presence when she goes back to Windsor to recuperate.”
George, Charlotte, and Louis have a large family, and one very fortunate thing is that they have so many cousins to play with.
Writing in The Telegraph, Kate’s brother James Middleton revealed that George, Charlotte, and Louis are great at keeping his toddler, Indigo, happy as they often have playdates.
Prince William & Kate Middleton will make sure Prince Louis won’t become a “spare”
He said the royal siblings “all play their role in looking after Inigo.”
“There’s seven of them (cousins) altogether at the moment,” James said. “I think they’re all impressed at how much of a mess Inigo can make. But there’s lots of laughter and giggles about.”
For Prince George, the plan for the future is quite clear: one day he will be king. Regarding Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis, however, their roles in the Royal Family will differ. As they are siblings to a future king, they fall into a similar as Prince Harry. Indeed, according to royal expert Jennie Bond, Prince William and Kate Middleton are very aware of that, and are taking measures to ensure that Charlotte and Louis won’t think of themselves as “spares”, like their uncle did.
“They have already shown that they have a different and modern attitude to bringing up royal children and I’m sure they will do everything to make Charlotte and Louis feel every bit as special, loved and valued as George,” Bond told the Mirror.
“I imagine they will encourage Louis to explore life outside the royal fold… it could be the military, but it could also be working in the charity world or whatever he finds appealing after his education is finished. I’m sure they will encourage him to go to University, which they both enjoyed and where, of course, they found love.”
The royal expert continued: “And from there they will want him to find a life that is meaningful to him as well as appropriate for the son of a future King. They will try to ensure that he feels he is living a life of value, irrespective of his place in the line of succession and that will probably involve service of some kind as they have emphasised from the start that they want their children to understand that having empathy with others is not only a kindness, but is rewarding as well.”
“William & Kate don’t want history to repeat itself”
As Bond suggested, William and Kate might encourage Louis to try new things and find his passion outside of royal life. Should he opt to remain in the royal fold, he will likely be handed an important senior role within the monarchy, and with that, significant titles.
But Bond isn’t the only one predicting that Louis could do more than just royal engagements. Speaking to OK!, per Yahoo, Camilla Tominey, royal expert and associate editor at The Telegraph, claimed Prince William and Kate Middleton will want Charlotte and Louis to “have their own careers” if they want to.
“[William & Kate] don’t want history to repeat itself and Prince Louis seem like a royal hanger-on and go down the Duke of York path,” she told the Telegraph.
“A lot of the more minor royals have got careers of their own so they aren’t really being tax payer funded,” she continued. “The extent to which the Cambridges have tried to normalise the lives of their children very much points in the direction of – yes, Prince George has his destiny mapped out but Princess Charlotte and Louis’ having their own careers?’”
Tominey concluded: “They’ve got to get the balance right of what their own children want to do with their lives and their royal commitments.”
The real reason why Prince Louis isn’t attending royal events
Although we’ll surely get to see Prince Louis travel with his parents and siblings in the future, William and Kate won’t bring their children along too often. That goes for public life in general, and both William and Kate are reportedly aware of this.
Speaking on True Royalty TV’s The Royal, royal expert Lizzie Robinson said that Louis is absent from many events because the Prince and Princess of Wales are “careful” when it comes to introducing him to life in the public eye.
“They’ve [Prince and Princess of Wales] been really careful to manage how they’ve done it and what they’ve taken them to,” Robinson explained. “They’ve considered each event on a case-by-case basis. And the fact that Louis wasn’t taken suggests that they are considering what they think is right for each child at what time. So, you know, his time will come.”
Sporting events and being active have always been big interests for Prince William and Kate Middleton. But at significant events such as Euro 2024–to which William brought Prince George – or the Wimbledon final – to which Kate brought Princess Charlotte — Louis hasn’t been present.
GB News royal reporter Svar Nanan-Sen explained that Louis is, simply put, too young.
“One royal child who was not at England’s Euro 2024 defeat or Wimbledon was Prince Louis,” Nanan-Sen said on The Royal Record Podcast, adding that it had “causes quite a stir online,” as many wanted Louis to be in attendance.
Kate Middleton says it’s a “wrench” when she has to leave her children
“He’s still only six, we have to remember. Charlotte made her first appearance at Wimbledon when she was eight, so he’s got to wait a couple more years. But Kate did say last year when George and Charlotte went to Wimbledon without Louis, that he was very upset about it.”
Even though Prince William and Kate Middleton get incredible support, both from their family and royal aides such as their nanny, while away, it can be safely assumed that not being with their children is tough.
For Kate, that was especially true in 2022 when she visited the Caribbean. She and William left their three children in the UK at the time, and it was a challenging period for the Princess of Wales. Royal expert Katie Nicholl stated that Kate finds it incredibly tough to be away from her children. In fact, the princess has admitted it herself.
“Despite being the Princess of Wales and being able to afford around-the-clock nannies and so on, she had her mum looking after Prince George and Princess Charlotte, which struck me as just really normal. I could see how much comfort and confidence that gave her in getting on with her job, which she does brilliantly, but I think it is always such a wrench for her to leave her children behind,” Kate said.
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