Copyright Showbiz Cheat Sheet
One question a lot of parents grapple with nowadays is when to get their child a cell phone. This is true for the royals too as Prince William revealed that none of his children have a phone yet. But that doesn’t mean Prince George, now 12, doesn’t want or hasn’t asked for one. So what’s a parent to do? The Prince of Wales talked about that recently when he was in Brazil for the Cop 30 Climate Summit and his annual Earthshot Prize. Here’s what William revealed about a timeline for giving the future king a mobile phone. Parenting rules Prince William and Kate always had for their children The Wales children–Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis–have always had a set of rules to follow in their household. But up until recently, they didn’t really involve technology. One rule that the children had to follow growing up was even they had to sit at a kids’ table during royal family dinners. Before Prince Louis was born, it was revealed that neither George nor Charlotte were allowed to sit with the adults at those types of gatherings until they could master the “art of polite conversation.” Another rule in place was how much TV the young royals could watch. And they watched most programs together as a family. Prince William previously told Radio 1 that “You have to pretend you’re really interested in it [TV show] because George gets very upset if you’re not showing due diligence to the characters.” William and Kate also implemented an important rule that the children should always be honest and open about their feelings. Therefore, they have nurtured an environment at home where George, Charlotte, and Louis are able to express their emotions freely. During an interview with CALMzine, William shared that he and his wife want their kids to know that they can have an open dialogue with them. Now, the Prince and Princess of Wales have to figure out when they think it’s an appropriate time to give them cell phones with internet access and how much they’ll be allowed to use them. What William revealed about phone negotiations with Prince George On Nov. 10, Prince William spoke with Brazilian television host Luciano Huck from the Domingão show and shared that he and Kate have refrained from giving any of their children phones yet. “Our children don’t have phones,” William revealed before sharing that George may get one sooner rather than later, but it will still have limited access. “I think when George moves on to secondary school, then maybe he will have a phone then — that has no internet access.” Prince George will be moving to a different school next September. “To be honest, it’s getting to the point where it’s becoming a little bit of a tense issue,” William admitted. “But I think he understands why. We communicate why we don’t think it’s right. I think it’s the internet access that I have a problem with. I think children can access too much stuff they don’t need to see online. So having a phone and text message, the old sort of brick phone as they call them, I think that’s fine.”
