At a recent event on October 15, Prince William shared a lighthearted parenting tip while attending a community day organized by the NFL Foundation UK in London. During the event, which took place on a school day for his children—Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis—the Prince of Wales, 42, was given a football to take home.
In a video shared by The Independent, William joked, “Never go home empty-handed! That’s a crucial motto of being a parent.” He then added with a laugh, “We’ll do some practice together and see how many windows I can smash!”
The Prince and Princess of Wales are parents to Prince George, 11, Princess Charlotte, 9, and Prince Louis, 6. While Princess Kate, 42, has been outside of the public eye for most of this year while receiving cancer treatment, Prince William has often been presented with small gifts and taken home sweet treats for his family during public-facing royal duties. He has also made relatable revelations about what his kids are interested in lately, from Charlotte’s love of “dancing and performing” to how George, Charlotte and Louis are “always wrestling over the remote.”
The Princess of Wales announced in a Sept. 9 video message that she completed chemotherapy treatment, and her husband and kids joined her in the footage unprecedented for its intimacy of their private life.
Prince William and Princess Kate are thought to have a tight bond with their three kids, and are breaking with previous royal generations by not sending them to boarding school. Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis are all students at Lambrook School, where they are day pupils and head home in the evenings. In contrast, Prince William and Prince Harry began boarding at the Ludgrove School when they were 8.
“Those children look pretty happy with life,” a palace insider previously told PEOPLE about the Wales kids. “A lot of it is the stabilizing normality Kate brings — and that’s how she grew up. William absolutely loves it.”
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Despite their royal roles — especially Prince George, who follows his father as second in the line of succession to the throne — Princess Kate works to ensure her children’s childhoods are as normal as possible.
“Coming from a different background, she appreciates the importance of having family time,” a source close to the royal household said. “She wasn’t brought up in that aristocratic setting where you see the children for a short time each day.”
Princess Kate spoke about her family at the start of the message she shared on Sept. 9 about completing chemo, reflecting on how the challenges of recent months reshaped her perspective.
“The past nine months have been really hard for our family.” “Life as you know it can change in an instant, and we had to figure out how to get through the rough waters and unknown roads,” the Princess of Wales said.
“Going through cancer is hard, scary, and hard to plan for everyone, but especially for the people closest to you.” She added, “Being humble makes you face your weaknesses in a way you hadn’t thought of before, and that gives you a new perspective on everything.”
Before her visit to Southport on Oct. 10, Princess Kate said she was looking forward to “a few more public engagements in the coming months when I can.” She also went with Prince William.