“None of our children have mobile phones. We sit and talk, which is something very important,” said Prince William, according to the Mirror, during a new episode of Apple TV+’s The Reluctant Traveler in which actor Eugene Levy toured Windsor Castle with the heir to the throne.
“I think it’s the full internet access I have a problem with; children can access too much stuff they don’t need to see online, but having a phone with text messages, the old-style brick phones like we used to call them, that’s fine,” said William, the Mirror reported.
Asked what his youngsters do instead of scrolling, the prince laughed. “Jumping on the trampoline and fighting, most of the time. Apparently, it’s quite an art,” he replied. He added that seven-year-old Prince Louis “loves the trampoline,” and Princess Charlotte is often airborne as well.
“George loves his football, his hockey,” said William. “Charlotte is passionate about classical dance and plays netball,” he added, Gala noted. “They are trying to learn musical instruments—I’m not sure they are succeeding,” he added. “Keeping them busy with sports and just being outdoors is really important,” he remarked.
“We take the children to school and try to be present as much as possible,” the prince said, cited by the Mirror. “I do the school run most days; Catherine and I share it, but she probably does the bulk of it,” he reflected.
In a separate interview with Brazilian host Luciano Huck during last year’s Earthshot Prize visit to Rio de Janeiro, William acknowledged growing tension over smartphones with his eldest. “It’s getting to the point where it is becoming a bit of a tense issue,” he said, quoted by Domingão com Huck via Terra. “We talk to him and explain why we don’t think it’s right,” he added. “Maybe he’ll have one with limited access when he enters secondary school.”
“Many questions may be unanswered: I believe all parents find themselves in this situation. There is no rule for being a parent, and we have chosen to talk about everything,” said William, according to Leggo. The prince offered a similar view on Apple TV+: “We chose to communicate a lot more with our children. That has its good things and its bad things; maybe we share things with the children that we shouldn’t,” he said, the Mirror recorded. “Sometimes it helps give them a bigger picture so they can relax rather than thinking, what are you hiding?” he added.
Presented with a 1991 photograph of Princess Diana holding an HIV-affected child in São Paulo, the prince told Huck, “I carry with me every day her social and humanitarian legacy,” Leggo reported. Looking ahead to his own son’s destiny, he said, “I hope to create a world and a job that actually does impact people’s lives for the better.”
The Rio trip centered on the Earthshot Prize, where William reminded the audience, “The future belongs to them.” Addressing modern parenting, he observed, “Control over screens is one of the great challenges of modern parenthood,” cited by Terra. “Hiding stuff from them doesn’t work,” he stressed.
A 2024 study by the agency Heaven found that nine in ten 12-year-olds already owned a smartphone. “It is very individual and moment-dependent as to how you deal with those problems,” said William, the Mirror reported. For now, at Adelaide Cottage, conversation, sport, and the backyard trampoline continue to prevail over touchscreens.
The preparation of this article relied on a news-analysis system.