They could have been any ordinary family enjoying a fun day out, but the appearance of Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis at the Commonwealth Games earlier this month marked a milestone.
The trio joined their parents, the Prince and Princess of Wales, in the stands at Glasgow’s Ovo Hydro arena, where the siblings’ close bond was clear to see as they sat side by side to watch the sporting action.
It was a rare informal public outing for the three young royals, who have most often been seen together at official events such as their grandfather the King’s coronation and Trooping the Colour, as well as Christmas Day at Sandringham and Easter at Windsor.
It was the youngsters’ first public appearance in Scotland, where William and Kate are known as the Duke and Duchess of Rothesay. It was also the first time that Louis had attended a major sports event, and he didn’t disappoint royal fans who have become accustomed to his playful antics.
The Prince, wearing a colourful bucket hat, appeared to be in his element as he watched the netball semi-final between Australia and Jamaica, smiling, pulling faces and covering his eyes when the tension perhaps became too much.
The event also revealed the close and comfortable bond that the Wales children share with their great-uncle and great-aunt, the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh, who sat alongside them, with Prince Edward appearing to explain some match rules to Charlotte as well as passing Louis a sweet.
© WireImageThe day provided an opportunity for William and Kate to continue to gently introduce George, 13, Charlotte, 11, and Louis, eight, to the type of public engagements that will one day become part of their lives. The children stood shyly alongside their parents as they met athletes from Team Wales and gamely accepted high-fives from the Games’ unicorn mascot, Finnie.
"We embarrass you enough as it is" - William
As their parents chatted to twin gymnasts Abigail and Emily Roper, who had both won bronze medals earlier in the week, Kate turned to her younger son and said: "Louis, you’re perfecting your handstand at the moment."
Her younger son replied: "A bit – Charlotte says I'm not very good."
Meanwhile, George gave a typically teenage response when the TV presenter Gethin Jones asked if he wanted to see his parents on a tandem bicycle in the velodrome. “No,” George replied, prompting laughter from Kate. “We embarrass you enough as it is,” William said.
© SNS Group via Getty ImagesThe future royal family
“The children are the future royal family, so William and Kate accept that they need to be seen in public sometimes,” Robert Jobson, author of The Windsor Legacy, tells HELLO!. “The reality is that they're still very protective of them, but in certain situations, it works, and I think this worked really well. It’s also good for the kids without overwhelming them.
“They’re very natural when they’re out – they sat among the crowd and weren’t given special treatment. They know they get privileges and I’m sure they’re told that it’s a great honour for them to meet these athletes.”
Robert adds: “Louis is a character, there’s no doubt about that. The public love him and it’s nice to see all three of them together.”
© Getty ImagesThe Middleton parenting model
The children’s love of sport is something instilled in them by their parents from a young age. It runs in the family: the Princess’s parents, Michael and Carole Middleton, encouraged Kate and her siblings, Pippa and James, to participate in sport while they were growing up, in the belief that it would build confidence.
The Middletons’ influence does not end there, with William and Kate having incorporated Carole’s hands-on approach to parenting – dubbed “the Middleton model” by commentators – in their own family life. This includes spending plenty of time outdoors, sitting down together for family meals and imparting a strong work ethic.
"I had a very happy childhood. It was great fun. I'm very lucky,” Kate has said. “I come from a very strong family. My parents were hugely dedicated to us. Now, as a parent, I really appreciate how much they sacrificed for us. They would come to every sports match – I was very keen on sport. They'd be the ones on the sidelines shouting, and we'd always have family holidays together.”
© GettyUnlike previous generations of royal parents, William and Kate have followed suit, taking turns to do the school run, regularly attending their children’s sports matches and school events and stepping back from work during the school holidays.
For William, who grew up in royal residences and experienced his parents’ bitter divorce and the death of his mother, Diana, Princess of Wales, when he was a teenager, the Middletons’ cosy and caring family provided him with the stability he had missed out on.
"Mike and Carole have been really loving and caring and really fun. They've been very welcoming to me, so I've really felt part of the family," he said when he and Kate got engaged in 2010. "It’s very important that you have a loving family behind you.”
Carole, an entrepreneur who built a multi-million-pound party supplies business, is the linchpin of that tight family bond, and described her grandparenting style in an interview in 2021.
"I think the Middleton family will have a huge impact on the future of the monarchy" - Simon Vigar
“I want to run down the hills, climb the trees and go through the tunnel at the playground. As long as I’m able to, that’s what I’ll be doing,” she said. “I cook with them, I muck around dancing, we go on bike rides. I have tried hard to be a listening grandmother and mother-in-law. That is why we are all still close, because our relationship has evolved as my children have had children.”
© Getty ImagesSimon Vigar, the royal correspondent for 5 News and author of the new book The Four Wives of Windsor, says that the Middletons’ influence on the next generation of royals should not be underestimated.
“[William and Kate’s] children are having a very similar childhood to the ones Catherine, Pippa and James had,” he recently told HELLO!’s A Right Royal Podcast. “I was told by one of my sources that the late Queen, very early on, identified what a good thing Catherine was, and how the absolute backbone was the Middletons. I think the Middleton family will have a huge impact on the future of the monarchy."
This sense of normal family life has always been important to William and Kate – just as it was to William’s mother, Diana, who used to take him and his brother, Prince Harry, to McDonald’s and make them queue for rides at theme parks rather than receive special treatment.
Princess Diana's influence
Ken Wharfe, Diana’s former police protection officer, has previously told HELLO! how she used to refuse – or pass on to charitable causes – unsolicited gifts sent to the young Princes, so that they wouldn’t become spoilt. “Diana was the first person to make sure her boys had some sort of normal lifestyle, and that is continuing with the Wales children,” Simon says. “Arguably, George, Charlotte and Louis have a more normal childhood than William and Harry did.”
© Getty
As Kate has said: "It's not how many toys they've got or what sort of trips you go on with them; it's simply making sure that they've got the right emotional support."
It is this philosophy, passed down from the previous generation, that seems sure to help secure the future of the next.
