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‘There were all sorts of mixed emotions’
Kate Middleton definitively stakes her claim to the territory marked “Childhood” today, with a 34-minute podcast on the Happy Mum Happy Baby blog, conducted by writer Giovanna Fletcher, and recorded at a nursery in south London as part of her work on early years childhood development.
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Kate has never given such a personal and revealing interview before, so this one is making headlines and front pages all over the U.K. today, not least because Kate confirms longstanding reports that she used the technique known as hypnobirthing to navigate labor.
She also talked about the extraordinary pressure of presenting her children to the global media just hours after delivery, and the steady, ongoing sensation of guilt she feels as a mother at not doing a better job.
Speaking of the experience of having her first baby she said: “You are pulled to your toughest and most unknown places that you hadn’t necessarily even thought about before… with your first-born baby, you think everything is going to go back to how it was. I totally underestimated the impact and the change it had on our lives from that moment.”
She said that her interest in hypnobirthing developed after she was diagnosed with hyperemesis gravidarum, an acute form of morning sickness, saying: “I saw the power of meditation and deep breathing when I was really sick. I realized that this was something I could take control of.”
Fletcher asked about Kate’s first public appearance with Prince George on the steps of the Lindo Wing hospital in 2013, saying: “What was it like knowing that there were so many people outside after you’ve given birth and you’re in your little cocoon with your new family?”
Kate said: “Slightly terrifying, I’m not going to lie. Everyone had been so supportive and both William and I were really conscious that this was something that everyone was excited about and we’re hugely grateful for the support that the public had shown us, and actually for us to be able to share that joy and appreciation with the public, I felt was really important.
“But equally it was coupled with a newborn baby, and inexperienced parents, and the uncertainty of what that held, so there were all sorts of mixed emotions.”
Kate said that she felt “really passionate” about children spending time outside, saying: “As children we spent an awful lot of time outside and it’s something I’m really passionate about.
“It’s so great for physical well-being and also mental well-being and actually really laying those foundations.
“It’s also a really great environment to spend time building those quality relationships without the distractions.”
She said she struggles with “doubts and questions about the guilty element of being away for work,” adding that parents are always “questioning your own decisions and your own judgments.”
Kate said: “Someone did ask me the other day, ‘What would you want your children to remember about their childhood?’ I thought that was a really good question because actually if you really think about that, is it that I’m sitting down trying to do their maths and spelling homework over the weekend? Or is it the fact that we’ve gone out and lit a bonfire and sat around trying to cook sausages that hasn’t worked because it’s too wet?”
Kate’s interview was recorded at the end of January during an early-morning visit to a nursery and pre-school in Stockwell, south London, and she joked about how her two eldest children chastised her over her priorities as a mother.
On the Kensington Royal Instagram account, Kate released a picture she had taken of Princess Charlotte smelling a bluebell, noting how important such moments were as a parent.
All smiles
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle broke cover this week, and were photographed by the Daily Mail stepping off a commercial flight at Victoria Airport in Canada on Friday.
The couple, who were not accompanied by their baby, Archie, carried their own bags off the flight which touched down at around 4:45 p.m. Friday.
It is unknown how long they have been away from their son. However, it was reported that the couple visited Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, on Tuesday. Earlier this month they were in Miami where, for a fee estimated to be close to a million dollars, the couple made their first paid-for speech, with Harry revealing how he had been in therapy for several years to help him cope with the death of his mother.
At Stanford, the Today show reported, Harry, 35, and Meghan, 38, attended “brainstorming sessions” with several “professors and academics” from the university, who have been helping them to work on the concept and creation of their new charitable organization.
Reports emphasized Meghan’s eco-friendly fashion and accessories. We learned she was wearing a pair of $125 black sneakers from Rothy’s, a San Francisco-based company that turns recycled water bottles into shoes, and a $1,790 duffle bag comes from Prada’s Re-Nylon line, which uses Econyl, a material that is made from mixing ocean waste and textile waste into fabric.
The environmentally friendly shoes contrast with reports that the couple may have used JPMorgan’s private jet to get to their conference, with publicly available flight data showing the jet traveling to Western Canada and then on to Miami, although it has not been definitively confirmed Harry and Meghan were on board.
Both activities were arranged by American advisers with no input from their U.K. team, who have all been made redundant. Casualties include Sara Latham, the PR supremo who previously worked for the Clintons and was headhunted by the couple from a top job at U.K. firm Freud Communications.
Don’t let the door hit you on the way out
The Daily Mail reports that a prominent photograph of Meghan and Harry has been removed from Kensington Palace.
The paper says that until recently, “a photograph of the couple was displayed on a large table in one of the palace’s grand foyers, opposite a picture of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and their children.”
Now, however, the “photograph of the Sussexes has been quietly removed, while that of the Cambridges remains.”
Royal fashion watch
Kate Middleton takes center stage more and more as the effects of Harry and Meghan’s exit from their senior royal roles take hold. Kate wore a stunning navy skirt suit by Alexander McQueen to the Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre in Leicestershire this week, as part of a quartet of royals numbering her, Prince William, Prince Charles, and Camilla Parker Bowles.
This week in royal history
Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, turns 60 on Wednesday, and it remains to be seen how the royal family will celebrate given the ongoing scandal around his—as yet not fully explained—relationship with disgraced sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will not be returning to the U.K. for the celebrations, Fox News reported, citing other commitments—but will send a “gift/card and a video message” instead.
Unanswered questions
They fired all their U.K. staff this week, so who will be taking care of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s day-to-day business from now on, and is their relationship with the U.K. totally over? And just what is the nature of Prince Andrew’s relationship with Canadian clothing tycoon billionaire, Peter Nygard, who has been accused of sexual assault by ten women? Andrew once stayed at Nygard’s Bahamas compound.
