Prince William and Kate Middleton have often spoken about their desire to give their three children, Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis, as much of a ‘normal’ childhood as possible. They have often gone against royal parenting traditions, and body language experts regularly comment on how the Cambridges relate to their little ones with ‘hands off’ parenting techniques.
The couple also tries to protect George, Charlotte and Louis’ privacy as much as possible, and it’s one of the reasons that Kate takes their birthday portraits herself.
But William has been hailed as a ‘lion’ when it comes to defending the Cambridge children, with one recent outing proving that the future King is ‘fiercely protective’ when he feels that their privacy is being violated.
Royal commentator and author Robert Jobson spoke to True Royalty’s The Royal Beat about a family cycle ride on Norfolk that infuriated the Duke due to lurking photographers.
He claimed: ‘When it comes to [William’s] family, he is a lion. He was out on the Sandringham estate when they were all having a bike ride and a photographer was seen.
‘The cameraman didn’t have his camera out, but William went steaming over and really ripped him off and told him what he thought, and the police moved him on. He is fiercely protective of his children and that’s right.
‘Everyone has their moments. You can’t be this perfect couple all the time in public.’
William’s difficult relationship with photographers has been widely discussed, with the Prince invoking a law to protect Kate from paparazzi when they were dating and he also had to issue a statement to the press to stop them ‘harassing’ her.
During a Channel 5 documentary, The Tabloids and the Royals, former editor of The Sun, Kelvin MacKenzie said: ‘If you’re William, you’d seen your mother basically pursued down the high street by photographers.
‘That would have left a scar on him, it was certainly having an effect on him.’
The Palace has not commented on the claims.