Prince Harry’s ‘scary’ parenting dilemma Prince William can relate to

Prince Harry got candid about parenting earlier this week, opening up about his struggles with the early days of fatherhood after the birth of his son Prince Archie, now six, and about how he approaches parenting in the modern age. 

An issue that was particularly important to Harry, who spoke during a Q&A at an engagement with Movember in Melbourne, was raising young children in the era of social media. “I see parenting evolving over time,” the Duke said. “Our kids are our upgrade. Not to say that I upgraded my dad or that my kids upgraded me, but the kids that we bring up in today’s world need to be upgraded.”

Getting specific, he added: “Obviously, 40 years ago, there wasn’t social media, so that’s just one example of conversations that are now happening in households between kids and parents that never existed between me and my parents.” 

Harry’s concern around social media

Harry and his wife, Meghan Markle, have both spoken publicly about the concerning impact social media can have on young people. In a joint TV interview for CBS News Sunday Morning, the Duke said that “one of the scariest things” was knowing that any parent could lose a child to suicide as a result of exposure to harmful content. 

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Meghan added: “Our kids are young, they are three and five, they’re amazing, but all you want to do as parents is protect them. And so as we can see what’s happening in the online space, we know that there’s a lot of work to be done there and we’re just happy to be a part of change for good.”

William’s parenting quandary 

The question of whether one’s children should have access to a phone has also been a source of contemplation for Harry’s brother, Prince William. Last October, William told Schitts Creek star Eugene Levy on The Reluctant Traveler: “We sit and chat, it’s really important. None of our children have any phones, which we’re very strict about.” 

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He added that instead, Prince George, 12, and Princess Charlotte, 10, are encouraged to learn how to play musical instruments and to play outside on their trampoline. 

A month later, speaking to broadcaster Luciano Huck in Brazil, where he travelled for the Earthshot Prize in Rio de Janeiro, William revealed: “Our children don’t have phones. I think when George moves on to secondary school, then maybe he might have a phone that has no internet access.”

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He added: “To be honest, it’s getting to the point where it’s becoming a little bit of a tense issue. But I think he understands why, we communicate why we don’t think it’s right. And again, I think it’s the internet access I have a problem with.

“I think children can access too much stuff they don’t need to see online, and so having a phone and text message, the old sort of brick phone as they call them, I think that’s fine.”

How are Harry and William’s parenting approaches different?

Though Harry and William seem to agree on the social media front, there are ways in which their children are growing up in very different environments. Where George, Charlotte, and seven-year-old Prince Louis are expected to occasionally join their parents at royal engagements, like Wimbledon or on a Christmas Day walkabout, Archie and four-year-old Princess Lilibet never attend public appearances with Harry and Meghan.

The Wales children also have a more formal lifestyle with their schooling at Lambrook School, where Harry and Meghan seem to put the onus on getting out in nature, with Archie taking surfing lessons and helping his mother feed chickens on the grounds of their Montecito abode.

Prince George’s preparation for the future

Prince George is in a unique position among his siblings and cousins, as his destiny has been set in stone. That said, according to Robert Hardman’s book, King Charles III: The Inside Story, William is not keen to rush George into taking on royal duties. x

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“Whereas Charles III had his future mapped out without consultation, Prince William had a significant degree of autonomy in his choice of university education, his engagement with the armed forces and his introduction to regular royal duties,” Robert wrote. “He is determined that Prince George should have a similar, if not greater, involvement in the way he develops his own royal role. 

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“‘There is no expectation that any royal duties are going to kick in until George is well into his twenties,’ says a Kensington Palace veteran. ‘Before he was even made a page at the Coronation, William and Catherine wanted to ask him if he felt comfortable about it because he was clearly the youngest. It turned out he was keen.'”