Everyone knows that Prince William is destined to be the next King of England. However, in interviews, it’s clear that William doesn’t define himself by the crown he will someday wear. Instead, he defines himself as a father, and he truly wants to be the best dad he can be to his three children.
However, even future kings are only human, and William has been known to make a few parenting mistakes from time to time. Which ones are the worst, though? Keep reading to discover Prince William’s most royally insane parenting choices!
Boring the kids to death with an official trip
One of the many privileges Prince William enjoys as a parent is having virtually unlimited resources. That makes stepping out without the kids relatively easy: he doesn’t exactly have to call around for a great babysitter when he’s surrounded by people whose job involves safeguarding the young royals’ lives.
Nonetheless, William decided to bring Prince George and Princess Charlotte along on a state trip in 2017. They visited Poland and Germany, and maybe William thought the kids would enjoy a bit of global travel at a young age. No such luck: candid photos published by People show Charlotte crying her eyes out and George looking like he could collapse from exhaustion at any moment. As William found out, even royal children hate long trips, and he should have kept the kiddos back home when traveling.
RELATED: Things That Just Weird Us Out About William And Kate’s Marriage
Insisting on boarding school for George
Prince George is William’s oldest son, and that means the youngster has his own destiny. In the fullness of time, he, too, will become the King of England. Perhaps because of this pressure, William has insisted that George attend Eton, the same boarding school he once attended.
It’s a very surprising decision because William and Kate have expressed no intention of sending their younger children to boarding school. A source close to the family told In Touch that “Kate thinks sending [George] to such a stuffy, upper-crust institution goes against all of their efforts to modernize the monarchy.” Allegedly, the couple has fought over the matter for years, meaning that William is so set on Eton that he’s willing to risk his relationships with both his wife and his son!
Badly buckling his newborn into the car
The average person has very little in common with the Royal Family, but every now and then, there are weird royal moments that make us think “hey, he’s just like me!” One of those moments occurred when Prince William and Kate Middleton were getting ready to head home after posing in front of St. Mary’s Hospital with the newborn Prince George.
Obviously, the paparazzi took plenty of pictures of William getting the young George’s car seat fastened into their automobile. Reporting for CTV News, Richard Berthelsen called William out for leaving his son’s blanket on when strapping him in and messing up the straps: in short, they were fastened incorrectly and not secure in the vehicle at all. William had to wear the “bad dad” label right away, and he’d continue to make car blunders with George in the coming days.
RELATED: The Truth About Prince William
William’s continually endangered his children while driving
That blunder with George’s car seat was bad, but it was understandable. Unfortunately, William just kept making car-related mistakes with his young children. One year after the first incident, William got some well-deserved heat for having a front-facing car seat installed in the royal limousine for George. Just one problem: most manufacturers and parents recommend waiting until children are at least two years old to put them in a front-facing car seat because doing so earlier puts kids in danger unless they are able to sit upright on their own.
Later, William took Prince George and Princess Charlotte to Princess Eugenie’s wedding. Those who took a closer look noticed that neither of the young children was in a car seat or even buckled in. To make matters worse, both children seemed to be standing upright in the car, making it appear as if William didn’t really care about their safety!
Posting a Father’s Day picture with only one child
When you have multiple children, one of the ongoing struggles is making sure none of them knows which one is your favorite. Unfortunately, it seems like Prince William never got that particular memo. And he ended up posting a Father’s Day photo in 2019 that ended up snubbing two of his three children.
Posting to the official Instagram account he shares with Kate Middleton, William shared an image of himself with Prince Louis, the youngest of his children. In all fairness, it really is a cute pic, and William clearly wanted us to see the parallels between this image and the older image of himself and King Charles he posted alongside it. But the fact that he left two of his three children out of a picture celebrating fatherhood made many think the future king was being unnecessarily cruel.
RELATED: The Biggest Royal Rules Prince William Has Ever Broken