(NewsNation) — Prince William raised eyebrows last week when he spoke to Eugene Levy about his upbringing and how we wants it to be different for his three kids.
During an episode of “The Reluctant Traveler,” William, in regard to how he grew up, said: “I hope we don’t go back to some of the practices in the past that Harry and I had to grow up in — and I’ll do everything I can to make sure we don’t regress in that situation.”
The future King of England didn’t expound further, but my sources did.
”He wants his children to have more freedom and a more normal life,” my insider said. “After Princess Diana died, his and Harry’s life was very restricted. They were confined to school, the army and the palace walls.” William wants George, Charlotte and Louis to have “as average a life as they can get away with and have a lot more freedom,” my insider added.
Prince William, Kate Middleton encourage hobbies for children
And William and Catherine are working very hard to make that happen. The kids all play on sports teams, and the royal couple attend the events as well as encourage the children to have hobbies and friends who are outside of their family or royal social circles.
LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM – JUNE 14: (EMBARGOED FOR PUBLICATION IN UK NEWSPAPERS UNTIL 24 HOURS AFTER CREATE DATE AND TIME) Prince William, Prince of Wales (Colonel of the Welsh Guards), Prince Louis of Wales, Prince George of Wales, Catherine, Princess of Wales and Princess Charlotte of Wales watch an RAF flypast from the balcony of Buckingham Palace after attending Trooping The Colour 2025 on June 14, 2025 in London, England. Trooping the Colour, also known as The King’s Birthday Parade, is a military ceremony to mark the official birthday of the British Sovereign. The ceremony, which takes place at Horse Guards Parade followed by a flypast over Buckingham Palace, was first performed in the mid-17th century during the reign of King Charles II. The parade features all seven regiments of the Household Division with Number 7 Company Coldstream Guards being the regiment this year having their Colour Trooped. (Photo by Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images) 
Britain’s Prince William and Britain’s Prince Harry walk beside each other after viewing the floral tributes for the late Queen Elizabeth II outside Windsor Castle, in Windsor, England on Sept. 10, 2022. Prince Harry flew more than 5,000 miles to see his father after King Charles III was diagnosed with cancer. But he did not see his estranged brother, William, during a visit that lasted scarcely 24 hours. William, meanwhile, returned to public duties for the first time since his wife, Kate, was admitted to a London hospital Jan. 16 for abdominal surgery. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner, File) 
LONDON, ENGLAND – SEPTEMBER 9: Prince William, Prince of Wales during a visit to Spiral Skills, a youth organisation in Lambeth who have received funding from the Homewards Fund to expand their services for young people in the local area, on September 9, 2025 in London, England. The Homewards Fund aims to support the delivery of work in the six Homewards flagship locations and offers up to £500,000 of flexible seed funding in each location. Spiral Skills was founded in 2015 and works with local schools, youth organisations, and authorities to provide early intervention, holistic support, employability skills, and access to employment and services for undeserved 1425-year-olds. (Photo by Ian Vogler – WPA Pool/Getty Images)
All three children currently attend Lambrook School, a co-educational prep school in Berkshire. George, who will be aging out of the school next year, is expected to attend Eton next, and Charlotte will likely go to Marlborough College, where her mother matriculated.
William is also eying how he can change the royal structure for his children to ease their lives and instill more purpose in the royal institution they were born into, telling Levy:
“I want to question things more. I think it’s very important that tradition stays, and tradition has a huge part in all of this, but there’s also points where you look at tradition and go, ‘Is that still fit for purpose today? Is that still the right thing to do? Are we still doing and having the most impact we could be having?’ So, I like to question things is what I’m really getting at.”
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