Prince William Opens Up About Parenthood and the Loss of His Mother

Prince William opened up about how he hopes to raise his kids — and what it means that his mother, the late Princess Diana, will never get a chance to meet them.

The Duke of Cambridge acknowledged that while it may be difficult, he wants to find a way to help his two children experience a normal life despite them being part of the United Kingdom’s Royal Family.

“I want George to grow up in a real, living environment, I don’t want him growing up behind palace walls, he has to be out there,” he said in a new interview with British GQ. “The media make it harder but I will fight for them to have a normal life.”

Prince William discussed the importance of family as part of the ongoing Heads Together campaign, an effort to end the stigma surrounding mental health issues.

“I could not do my job without the stability of the family. Stability at home is so important to me,” he said. “I want to bring up my children in a happy, stable, secure world and that is so important to both of us as parents.”

And part of his family includes his mother. He said he wished she could have met his wife, Princess Kate Middleton, and his children, 3-year-old George and Charlotte, 2. Prince William said it’s been hard for him to discuss the loss of his mother openly — noting that the added pressure of a public life makes it more difficult.

“I would like to have had her advice,” he said. “I would love her to have met Catherine and to have seen the children grow up. It makes me sad that she won’t, that they will never know her.”