14 iconic photos of Prince William and Kate Middleton as parents

Áine Cain

Apr 23, 2018, 23:19 IST

14 iconic photos of Prince William and Kate Middleton as parents

royal family Prince William Kate George Charlotte

Steffi Loos/Pool Photo via AP Images

There's a new royal baby in town.

Kate Middleton just gave birth to a baby boy - her third child with Prince William.
The new baby, whose name hasn't been announced yet, is fifth in line for the throne.
Here's a look at some of the parenting strategies Will and Kate have used while raising their first two children, George and Charlotte.

Royal baby number three is here.

Kate Middleton - whose official styling is now Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge - just gave birth to a son. The baby is her third child with Prince William, Duke of Cambridge.

The new royal's name has not been announced yet. The baby is fifth in line to the British throne, behind his grandfather Prince Charles of Wales, his father Prince William, his brother Prince George of Cambridge, and his sister Princess Charlotte of Cambridge. He is ahead of his uncle, Prince Harry.

For a royal couple, Will and Kate have been quite vocal about some of the strategies they use to parent their kids.

Vogue reported that, while advocating for a mental health campaign, Prince William said that he and his wife want their children "to grow up feeling able to talk about their emotions and feelings."

Here's a look into what royal parenthood has been like for Will and Kate:

The Duke and Duchess became parents on July 22, 2013, when Kate gave birth to the couple's first child, George Alexander Louis.

The couple broke royal tradition by releasing an informal portrait of the family taken by the Duchess' father at the Middleton family's property in Bucklebury, England — complete with their dog, Lupo.

The new royal couple brought George along on a tour around Australia and New Zealand in 2014. George didn't just meet with heads of state on the trip — Kate brought her son along on a group play date, to allow him to interact with his peers.

"I want George to grow up in a real, living environment, I don't want him growing up behind palace walls, he has to be out there," the prince said, according to the Huffington Post. "The media make it harder but I will fight for them to have a normal life."

Prince William personally accompanied George to his first day of preschool at Thomas's Battersea co-ed prep school in London on September 7, 2017, where Prince George is known as George Cambridge.

The couple's second child, Charlotte Elizabeth Diana, was born on May 2, 2015. Her name honors William's late mother Diana, Princess of Wales.

Prince William has said that he wishes his late mother was alive, so she could meet her grandchildren. “I would love her to have met Catherine and to have seen the children grow up," he said, according to the Huffington Post. "It makes me sad that she won't, that they will never know her.”

When it comes to their children's' maternal grandparents, historian Carolyn Harris told Express that Will and Kate are breaking the Crown tradition of pushing non-royal grandparents out of the lives of the royal children. The Duchess' parents Carole and Michael Middleton are active in the lives of their grandchildren.

"Childhood is an incredibly important moment in our lives..." Kate said while promoting children's mental health week in the UK, according to the Independent. "Our experience of the world at this early stage helps to shape who we become as adults and how we begin to feel comfortable in our own skin."

"You can't help but reflect on your own life and it's definitely had an impact on how sort of I look at how I mother, how we work as a family and you know, how we hope to bring up our children," Kate said, according to the Independent.

The Duke and the Duchess are protective of their children. E! reported that the couple sent out a message to members of the media following Charlotte's birth, reiterating that paparazzi were not allowed to photograph members of the royal family on their private Sandringham Estate.

At her sister Pippa Middleton's wedding to James Matthews on May 20, 2017, the Duchess oversaw her children — and some others — as they participated in the ceremony.

"I would like George and Charlotte to grow up being a little bit more simple in their approach and their outlook, and just looking after those around them and treating others as they would like to be treated themselves," Prince William said on a Vietnamese talk show.

"Personally, becoming a mother has been such a rewarding and wonderful experience," the Duchess told an audience at London's Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, according to the Independent. "There is no rule book, no right or wrong — you just have to make it up and do the very best you can to care for your family."

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