The Prince of Wales described how he and the Princess of Wales have handled telling their children about difficult moments over the past two years, including Catherine and King Charles’ cancer diagnoses. Speaking in Brazil, Prince William said they “choose to communicate a lot more” with their children because “most of the time, hiding stuff from them doesn’t work.”
The prince, in Rio de Janeiro for the fifth Earthshot Prize, explained that every family deals with challenges differently and that timing and approach are important. Asked how they navigated recent hardships, he said parents sometimes worry about “oversharing” but found explaining feelings and reasons helps give their children perspective and reduces anxiety about secrets. “There’s a lot more questions when there’s no answers,” he said, adding parenting is a “balancing act” with no manual.
William and Catherine are parents to Prince George, 12, Princess Charlotte, 10, and Prince Louis, seven. The Princess of Wales announced she was in remission from cancer in January, and King Charles continues to undergo treatment.
In the interview with Brazilian TV host Luciano Huck, William also said their children do not have phones, though George might get one with limited access when he starts secondary school. “It’s getting to the point where it’s becoming a little bit of a tense issue,” he said, citing concerns about internet access and children seeing unsuitable content online. He added that either he or Catherine usually does the school run and joked about being a “taxi driver.”
On the Earthshot Prize, held in Brazil for the first time, William said the initiative marks the halfway point of a ten-year “decade of change” to protect and restore the planet, and that while progress has been made there is much more to do. Winners this year included projects to restore tropical forests and a global ocean treaty initiative. After the Rio trip, officials announced they would make Prince William an honorary citizen of the city, a carioca.
