How Princess Diana ‘Influences’ Prince William, Kate Middleton As Parents

They may be senior members of the royal family and one of their children may also be a future king, but that doesn’t mean that Prince William and Kate Middleton are letting their kids grow up in a stuffy and traditional royal lifestyle—and they may be taking their cues from William’s own mother, the late Princess Diana.

According to People Magazine, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are doing their best to raise their three children—Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis—as normally as they possibly can, and they initially seemed to be showing they would be more hands-on than royal parents of the past when they first brought Prince George on a royal trip when he was just 9 months old. Since then, as their family has grown, the couple has shown more and more how they intend to be raising their children with no major royal expectations.

“The Cambridge kids are really lively,” a source told People of the brood, who also spend time with trusted nanny Maria Borrallo. “You can see Kate is a great mom. Clearly the kids are having fun.”

Meanwhile, Prince William is considered to be “very much a modern dad,” especially as he practices what is known as “active listening,” which involves getting to his children’s eye level when speaking with them in a way that makes the youngsters feel more empowered.

According to People, that style is heavily influenced by how William’s own mother, Princess Diana, insisted on raising both him and his brother, Prince Harry. It also appears that her way of doing things for her kids had an effect on Prince Harry as well, as he and Meghan Markle are also insisting on raising their son, Archie Harrison, as normally as possible too and are also bringing him on his first royal tour, to Africa, later this year.

These are all strict departures from the way Queen Elizabeth herself was raised, and even how she raised her four children in the 1950 and 60s, which were considered a “nanny-dominated” world.

According to royal expert Ingrid Seward, even the decision to bring the royal children on tours at a young age now was not practiced when Prince Charles and his siblings were young, and they often didn’t get a chance to speak to their parents often while they were away on tours.

“People didn’t travel with their children then,” Seward said. “There wasn’t so much communication—the nanny would ring up and announce to Charles, ‘Mummy’s on the phone from Australia.’”