Prince William has revealed that school takes priority over public engagements for his three children while he was wrapping up the final days of his trip to Cape Town in South Africa for the Earthshot Awards.
In the interview with UK media, the Prince stressed the importance of his children’s education above their royal duties.
As reported in Hello! Magazine, Prince William said: “Family-wise, you’ll have to wait a little bit longer because obviously they’re at school, and I think that takes priority over everything else.”
The Prince did, however, state that after a “brutal” year as his father and wife battled their cancer diagnoses, the Princess of Wales will be ready to attend more engagements in 2025.
He added: “But I think hopefully Catherine will be doing a bit more next year, so we’ll have some more trips maybe lined up.”
The future King also spoke about changing the nature of the monarchy; he said: “It’s hard to describe what that is all about, but I can only describe what I’m trying to do, and that I’m trying to do it differently and I’m trying to do it for my generation.
“And to give you more an understanding around it, I’m doing it with maybe a smaller ‘r’ in the royal, if you like, that’s maybe a better way of saying it.”
While William was in South Africa, Princess Kate and their children – George, 11, Charlotte, nine, and six-year-old Louis, resided at their home in Adelaide Cottage in Windsor.
Speaking on the last day of his trip to Cape Town, where five winners were awarded £1million to scale up their environmental solutions, the future King looked ahead to 2025 and said that while his children are unlikely to attend any tours, he and Kate have some travel in the pipeline. The trips are likely to be short and relatively close to home.
The Prince and Princess of Wales had been due to visit Rome in spring 2024 and travel to an unspecified country to visit serving British troops but the trips were cancelled following Kate’s abdominal surgery in January. She spent 14 days in hospital and was subsequently diagnosed with an undisclosed form of cancer.
Kate revealed in September that she had completed her course of chemotherapy and was planning to ease herself back into royal duties. But she is likely to take a cautious approach over the coming months and into the New Year, attending engagements as and when she feels able to.
The couple’s youngest child, Prince Louis, is six, and he has yet to join his parents on a royal tour.
Prince George, 11, made his tour debut when he was nine months old, and the family spent three weeks in New Zealand and Australia in April 2014.
In September 2016, Princess Charlotte, nine, joined her older brother and parents on a trip to Canada when she was 16 months old.
It comes after Buckingham Palace sources revealed the King is planning to resume a full schedule of overseas trips next year, with tours planned for the Spring and the Autumn.
