Prince William: ‘Catherine probably does the bulk of’ the kids’ school runs

With every story I’ve written about Prince William’s Earthshot events in Brazil, my favorite comments are “so, is he going to say anything about who actually won the prizes this year?” It’s true that all of the stories about Billy’s Big Brazilian Flop Tour are centered on Billy boy himself. Bill played volleyball and looked ridiculous! Bill took a private jet to Belem! Bill set up a photo-op on a private plane to prove that he’s literate! Bill is incandescent with rage that his Brazilian Flop Tour got overshadowed! And on and on. To be fair, I do think he spent a small amount of time talking to and about the Earthshot winners, it’s just that the press didn’t cover any of it whatsoever. Well, Bill was interviewed by a local Brazilian outlet last week, and the interview is just getting attention now, one week later. Instead of focusing on Earthshot or the winners, William… talked about his home life and the fakakta school run.

The Prince of Wales has discussed the challenges of answering difficult questions from his three children, Prince George, 12, Princess Charlotte, ten, and Prince Louis, seven, amid his wife Kate’s cancer battle. The future King, 43, opened up to Brazilian TV show host, Luciano Huck, during his trip to Rio de Janeiro last week for the Earthshot Prize Awards.

“Every family has its own difficulties and its own challenges, and I think it’s very individual as to how you deal with those problems,” William spoke candidly. “We choose to communicate a lot more with our children, that has its good things and its bad things, sometimes you feel you’re oversharing with the children when you probably shouldn’t.”

“But most of the time hiding stuff from them doesn’t work, and so explaining to them how they feel, why that’s happening, giving them other viewpoints as to why they might be feeling the way like they are, sometimes helps give them a bigger picture and they can relax more into it, rather than being really anxious about what you’re hiding from them. There can be a lot more questions than answers. It’s always a balancing act, every parent knows that, it’s about how much do I say? There’s no manual for being a parent, you’ve just got to go with it, it’s A bit of instinct.”

In the wide-ranging interview, William also spoke about the family’s home life, revealing how they fit their royal engagements around the school run and their children’s extracurricular activities saying: “Play dates, taxi driver, sports days, matches, playing in the garden when I can. School run most days, I mean Catherine and I share it, but she probably does the bulk of it.”

And while he’s previously spoken about the children not having mobile phones, he wants to approach technology with caution.

“It is really hard. Our children don’t have phones,” he explained. “When George moves onto secondary school, maybe he’ll have one with limited access. We talk to him and explain why we don’t think it’s right. With full access, children end up seeing things on the internet that they shouldn’t. But with restricted access, I think it’s good for messaging.”

[From Hello]

We’ll get to his quotes in a moment, and I understand he was just answering the questions asked, but wow, everything about his Earthshot press just emphasizes the fact that this is all a vanity project for him and an excuse to center himself constantly. Why the f–k are you talking about the school run to a Brazilian media outlet in the middle of an Earthshot trip? As for the quotes… I think it’s fine that he’s talking about how his kids don’t have phones, and I also think that flip-phones need to make a comeback. And if Kate is doing the bulk of the school runs, then what is William doing during all of his time “off”? Why can he only do one day of work a week if Kate is the one on the school run? All of the family communication stuff is whatever, all of it so obviously a lie. Mark my words, Carole Middleton is the one explaining stuff to those kids.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

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47 Responses to “Prince William: ‘Catherine probably does the bulk of’ the kids’ school runs”

  1. ThatGirlThere says:

    We all know this is all done to compete with Harry. Nothing about Earthshit is about preserving the planet or boosting the people who actually want to make a difference.

    I wonder if Gisele saw the shitshow this production was and wiggled her way out of any publicity for Willy’s expensive toy?

  2. Royal Downfall Watcher says:

    Today I woke up to join a work call, went on mute to pack my daughter’s lunch and get her dressed, took her to school while on another work call, then had to jump on another work call on the way home.

    Please spare me the utter bull*%t of the Royal School Run. These people DO NOT DO ANYTHING AT ALL. Maybe they might sit in the car as their driver ushers them to school after the nannies get the kids ready but the constant pushing of this narrative is downright gaslighting and offensive.

    Think of the mom who works two jobs who has to take a bus to get her kids to school…..

    They are utter trash for repeating this lie as if it makes them saints. I cannot stand it.

    • LadyE says:

      You are an awesome mama, good on you! I also had one of those mom’s- my mom somehow owned and ran her own small business, coached my basketball team, and not only did the “school run”, but woke me up and drove me to *before* school swim practice, yep, 5.30am start time at a pool that was nearly 30 minutes from my house (we didn’t have a pool at my high school and it was the only place they could rent)…and she made dinner every night. My mom was always carving out any time she could find to go to her office and work (pre-laptop days) and I have so many memories of stopping by the office on our drive home from whatever sports practice/game so she could finish up something she’d paused to come cheer me on. But, of course, work was not a hobby for my mom, unlike the ways W&K discuss their “work”

      • Royal Downfall Watcher says:

        Awww thank you!!! That brightens my day!! Your mama sounds AWESOME!!! And yes totally agree! Work isn’t a hobby for 99.99% of the world. Thank you for sharing that about your mom 🙂 It is always inspiring to read these stories. Women make the world go round!

  3. Henny Penny says:

    Jason Knauf has spent YEARS making this school run the center of William’s entire life only for William to go blab that Kate’s the one doing most of it? What about when she had that bad case of the cancer? I just can’t anymore with this idiotic man.

    • MY3CENTS says:

      Yeah that was a truth bomb he just detonated in there.
      I am shocked, for years we’ve been hearing about the almighty school run, and now what? What?
      Next thing he’ll be telling us there is no Santa or Tooth Fairy!

      • jais says:

        LOL. There’s no tooth fairy, no Santa and William is not actually running himself ragged doing the daily school runs.

    • Jay says:

      I often wonder how his staffers must feel when he accidentally reveals these things, like when he “revealed” that he’s not actually the only one caring for Kate after her illness as had been implied, of course she had plenty of nurses. But that had been one of the excuses for why he couldn’t work, he was singlehandedly caring for Kate AND doing those school runs!
      Either he is not even remotely involved in making up all these excuses or he just doesn’t care.

      • Royal Downfall Watcher says:

        Its like managing a drunk chicken running through a field of grain. You never know what its gonna do.

  4. Nanea says:

    “William also spoke about the family’s home life, revealing how they fit their royal engagements around the school run and their children’s extracurricular activities”

    How on earth do people with real jobs and multiple kids manage?

    “Play dates, taxi driver, sports days, matches, playing in the garden when I can”

    Again, how on earth do people with real jobs manage?

    Bulliam makes it sound that juggling kids *is* his job that he is paid many millions to do. He should be ashamed of ever mentioning *manage*. He has people for that, more than should be legal.

    “School run most days, I mean Catherine and I share it, but she probably does the bulk of it.”

    *Probably* just a case of unfortunate speech, but *probably* not.

    Sad state of affairs in all, and proving Scooter is not up to his job. Not only intellectually, but he’s also very practically unable to relate to and deal with real life.

    • BeanieBean says:

      This is all the fun stuff: “Play dates, taxi driver, sports days, matches, playing in the garden when I can”. Nothing about the care & feeding of your kids in that list–getting them ready for bed, reading to them, helping with homework, taking care of scraped knees, preparing dinner, cleaning up afterward, etc., etc., etc. He’s the fun dad! 😏

      • SarahCS says:

        I assume nanny Maria does all of that and WanK would look at you blankly if you raised this with them.

  5. Inge says:

    Dont they emply nanny Maria so they have more time for work?

    Which is also weird considering actual working parents do it all

    • sunnyside up says:

      I have read that she left, went to Spain, her mother was ill. Of course knowing the British media this might not be true or she might be back.

  6. Me at home says:

    When are they going to stop milking pre-cancerous cells? Maybe the Brazilians asked him, but he didn’t push back with something about how they’re almost back to normal (of course that would suggest WanK get back to work), instead he went off on what a great parent he is for handling how to tell the kids.

    • sunnyside up says:

      I think they would have to be fairly honest with the children, because the other parents would talk to their children about things.

  7. Betsy says:

    George’s friends have phones. The “my kid isn’t allowed a phone” is such a stupid flex.

  8. Becks1 says:

    i woke up at 5 am today. drove to work, here by 6. My husband got the kids up and on the bus and then he drove to work. he’ll make sure he can leave in time to coach our one son’s soccer practice while I work on things for the school play and make dinner. We’ll help one kid get ready for rehearsals this weekend, the other has a scout camping trip so will pack for that.

    and this is a light day.

    So basically he needs to STFU about why he can’t work because of kids. Its always been tone deaf and its just getting worse because we KNOW those kids don’t want them around 24/7. No 12 year old does!

  9. Gabby says:

    I suspect that William drinks so much and so often that he isn’t safe for the school run. The rest of what he said looks like it was provided to him by someone else.

    Regarding the kids and phones, my ex-husband let our 2 boys get phones at 10. That was way too early and I regret that. When my older son started middle school at grade 5, he told me the 8th graders were watching porn on their phones on the bus.

    • Becks1 says:

      my older son (now in 8th grade) got one in 5th and that was a mistake. We got it for him so he could call us from other houses or from practice if it got out early etc but instead its been a fight over snapchat and app times etc (nothing worse so far though.)

      for my younger son, now in 5th, we got him an apple watch with cellular for calling and texting and that’s been a good compromise.

  10. Amy Bee says:

    I’m not surprised that Kate is doing school runs most of time. So when she was doing treatment was he doing them or did he send the nanny with a driver to drop off the children?

  11. QuiteContrary says:

    The very phrase “school run” is like fingernails on a chalkboard to me now.

    How has this been elevated into a major thing, when it’s a normal part of parenting life and something most of us do, or have done, while working full-time jobs???

    • cosmo says:

      YES. I have no idea who did my school runs as a child. Of course in the 80s that was not a thing we said. Maybe my dad? Maybe my afternoon nanny? I turned out fine I swear!

    • Happy Peregrine says:

      I don’t actually know who calls it the school run. It’s like – dropping the kids off at school, or getting out the door and whatever. It’s not “the school run”

    • ArtHistorian says:

      The school run has become this major thing in their PR because they’ve made being “normal” and “relatable” their thing. However, their life is neither normal nor relatable so they just picked something that most parents do, or they think most parents do.

    • Nic919 says:

      William will milk this until Louis is in boarding school. After they they will have to come up with something else.

    • Christine says:

      I’m the same, my eye starts to twitch every time I read “school run” now. It is just the most pathetic excuse not to do anything with your life.

      He legitimately acts like his children will melt if they aren’t with a parent every minute of the day.

  12. Tessa says:

    Scooter and his school runs. “Catherine” takes over when he’s not around. He’s so embarrassing and clueless.

  13. Tessa says:

    Most parents have real jobs and manage well with the children. Scooter does not know what he’s talking about and should stop this line of talk, it’s patronizing and absurd. I doubt he has “talks” with George about the phone use, when he himself goes to chat rooms about Sports. And isn’t his wife better now, she said so. And most parents can’t afford to rush to expensive yachts for each school break. Is he going to do school runs with the kids when they are teens? And how can they have “play dates” when the parents want to “watch them” all the time.

  14. Over it says:

    Not more talk about these f—ing school runs . Like get up both of you lazy asses and run yourselves to work for f sake .

  15. Tessa says:

    what happens when they become teens? More school runs?

    • Betsy says:

      Boarding school!

      The school run is a pretty common British term because they don’t have school buses as Americans do. And yeah, I’m tired of it too. Didn’t someone say the RPO drive them to school most days?

      • Nic919 says:

        When George and Charlotte went to school at Battersea in London, it was obvious that William did not do the school run and Kate maybe once a week.

        Part of their move to Windsor was to hide how little they work.

  16. Lady Digby says:

    No wonder even Amanda Platell was giving Wilbur a kicking over his jaunt to Brazil, he is just so unserious and out of touch with the real world. Genuinely not a multitasker like the average parent who actively cares for their children without paid nanny and then works hard to pay for it all. I bet Wilbur is too hung over to drive the kids anywhere PROBABLY!!

  17. BeanieBean says:

    Sounds like they’ve got anxiety-ridden kids. Shame, that. And Billy & Katie are hardly the two to help explain emotions to anyone. Katie hides her emotions & Billy explodes his.

    • Lady Esther says:

      Right? I saw that, too: “…and so explaining to them how they feel…” Shouldn’t you just want to ask their kids how they feel, and listen, instead of telling them how they feel? Maybe it was a bad translation but this sounds like terrible parenting to me

  18. Where'sMyTiara says:

    Whoa.

    Two things:

    1. His comment, “sometimes you feel you’re oversharing with the children when you probably shouldn’t.”

    He once lambasted his late mother posthumously for this exact thing. And C-Word and the rest ran with it for AGES.

    2. His comment, “But most of the time hiding stuff from them doesn’t work, and so explaining to them how they feel…”

    Excuse me, what? Good parenting is LISTENING to how kids feel, holding space to help them express themselves, validating feelings and teaching them how to handle what they are feeling. ‘Explaining’ to a child *how* they should feel? It’s giving dictatorial. That’s something my narcissistic parents excelled in. Worried for those kids now.

    Also: what are WanK so desperate to hide from the kids??

  19. Teagirl says:

    The article states : “amid his wife Kate’s cancer battle”. ‘Amid’ means it is still going on. I thought she had declared herself cancer free/in remission?

    • Christine says:

      Well over a year ago, though you would think she had been put in hospice by the way the KP geniuses want everyone to talk about her.

  20. ChewieNYC says:

    What is so funny is MOST parents I know, despise the school run. When the kids just can’t the bus, it is the WORST. W&K are just so weird about all things parenting.

    I will give it to him on the phone thing. We have had a lot of talk in our town about limiting phones especially in the high school and banning them until kids are much older for Middle and Elementary. He’s not saying anything groundbreaking as it’s been a movement the last few years.

    • First comment says:

      However, I’m sure that it’s easy for him to say no to phones because he’s not the one who has to spend quality time with them to balance the absence of phones and contacts with their friends. Neither he is the one dealing with the constant nagging of the children for having one. Not to mention that they have the open space to keep them occupied

  21. KASalvy says:

    It’s the “probably” in the school runs sentence that hint at separate lives.

  22. Blujfly says:

    Imagine being married to someone whose “life’s work” is about the Early Years and research into it and how to properly support children and then saying there’s no manual for parenting and you just wing it.

  23. jferber says:

    To him, “the bulk” probably means 100 percent. He’s such a liar with his false “virtues.”

  24. First comment says:

    What kind of a word salad is this? The fact that he can’t complete a coherent phrase is the proof that he is lying… I noticed immediately two things: firstly, he doesn’t use the word ‘cancer’ when he talks about the challenges of explaining things to children. The journalist was the one who mentioned it…hmm. and secondly, he seems to spend only fun time with his children..playing or watching them play…and that’s it…that’s the summary of his parenting and probably his life as well..

  25. bisynaptic says:

    Knauf looks every inch the sleazy consigliere that he is.

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