Despite raising Prince George and his soon-to-be sibling in the public eye, Prince William and Duchess Kate are determined to give their children as normal a childhood as possible.
Since the day they left the hospital with George, William had his sights set on being a hands-on dad — beginning with putting his son in the car seat without the aid of a chauffeur, as was previously done by his parents Prince Charles and the late Princess Diana.
“I think driving your son and your wife away from the hospital was really important to me," William told CNN. "I don’t like fuss, so it’s much easier to do it yourself.”
The unprecedented move was the first time the royal pair demonstrated their modern approach to parenthood, reminding royal watchers that William had clearly inherited some of the late Princess Diana's warmth and devotion to her children.
In a similarly unprecedented manner, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge eschewed royal tradition when it came to the first official photos of their new family. Rather than using an official photographer commissioned by the royal family, Kate's father Michael Middleton took the first family photo of Kate, William and their little Prince.
The photo — taken in a garden at the Middleton family home — was a very relaxed shot, featuring the royal family in a casual environment that broke royal convention.
In yet another demonstration of how William and Kate have embraced the digital age, the photos were broadcast to the public via Clarence House's official Twitter account for the first time ever. The photos show William and Kate as new parents proudly and lovingly holding a sleeping George in their arms.
And come spring, while the pair hired a nanny to help care for the little royal, they kept him close by on their highly anticipated tour of Australia and New Zealand.
The trip reminded royal family fans of the tour Diana and Charles made with William when he was around the same age. Showing just how much William's parenting philosophy takes after that of his mother's, Diana's trip Down Under with William in tow would have been seen as unthinkable a generation prior, as Queen Elizabeth always left her children behind when she went on official tours.
At age five, Charles famously had to wait to welcome his mother when she returned from a six-month tour of the Commonwealth as the Queen shook hands with a line of dignitaries, before she personally greeted her young son with a handshake.
the photo below to see William and George's cutest moments:
As a testament to how times have changed, Kate and William are quite the doting parents, openly kissing and hugging their baby boy in public.
Now, as the Duke and Duchess are set to welcome another royal baby into the family, they will no doubt continue to blaze a new trail of royal traditions, and prepare their youngest son or daughter for a life in the spotlight on their own terms.
