Royal expert reveals how Princess Diana’s death prepared Prince William for this unexpected aspect of parenting

While Kate Middleton recovers from abdominal surgery in hospital, a royal expert believes Prince William will be drawing from the lessons he learnt after Princess Diana’s death to look after his children's wellbeing as 'he knows exactly how it feels to be worried about your mum.'

There are parenting lessons to be found in nearly every life experience, both happy ones and ones we'd rather have avoided. We're constantly adapting our parenting styles to fit with what we learn and drawing on our own experiences as kids to better understand and relate to our children and what they're going through. 

For Prince William, his current situation is a huge learning curve. For the first time, he is parenting his three kids, Prince George, ten, Princess Charlotte, eight, and Prince Louis, five, on his own while Kate Middleton recovers from a planned abdominal surgery in The London Clinic. 

He's reportedly not 'fazed' about going it alone and that's perhaps down to one very important lesson he learned in the aftermath of his mother Princess Diana's death in 1997. 

William was only 15-years-old when Princess Diana tragically passed away in a car accident in Paris. It was a trying time for the young Prince not only because he had lost his mother, but because he had to grieve in such a public setting as the rest of the UK mourned the loss of the people's princess. 

But one royal expert believes William will be drawing on the 'coping mechanisms' he learnt during that rough period in order to help his kids through their mum's absence and calm any worries they have about her health. 

"He’ll be feeling emotional, stressed, and probably rather bewildered by this sudden turn of events,” royal expert and former BBC royal correspondent Jennie Bond told OK! Magazine, as per Marie Claire. “You can have every privilege in life, but your health is paramount and beyond your control."

To combat the out-of-control feeling, William is likely keen to keep things as normal as possible for his children, the expert says. "William will certainly be there for the children. They want to keep things as normal as possible, so I’d expect William will be doing the school run, helping with homework, cooking, and doing the bedtime routine. Keeping the routine going is important. But they are certain to be feeling a bit confused.

“William is, sadly, perfectly placed to help. He knows exactly how it feels to be worried about your mum and, in his case, to lose her. So he will be taking extra care to reassure the children and tell them as much, or as little, as he judges they need to hear.” 

William has previously spoken about how life events such as loosing his mother have impacted his approach to parenting and candidly opened up about the 'overwhelming' time of becoming a father. "Having children is the biggest life-changing moment, it really is,” he said in the 2020 BBC documentary, Football, Prince William and our Mental Health. 

“I think when you’ve been through something traumatic in life, and that is your dad not being around, my mother dying when I was younger, your emotions come back in leaps and bounds because it’s a very different phase of life. And there’s no one to, kind of, help you, and I definitely found it very, at times, overwhelming.”