Picture this: Two young siblings sitting in the back seats of a car with a five-hour road trip ahead of them. One of the parents connects their phone to the car speakers and asks, “What music shall we play?”. Thus, chaos ensues.
Of course, some mightn’t even have gotten as far as asking the question. Perhaps it was always written into unspoken law that the music must be played in turns—one sibling gets to pick their favourite songs for the first half, the second sibling the other.
Now if you take away the car and casually replace it with a large, shiny kitchen inside a Palace or mansion and think of the two siblings as a Prince and Princess, you might even go so far as to say royal kids are just like us.
Well, kind of. Prince William has shared a rare anecdote about his family life as part of his partnership with Apple Fitness+’s Time To Walk series, describing how his two eldest children, aged eight and six, are big lovers of music—but they certainly have their own tastes.
“Most mornings there’s a massive fight between Charlotte and George as to what song is played in the morning,” the 39-year-old royal explained.
“And I have to, now, basically prioritise that one day someone does this one, and another day it’s someone else’s turn. So George gets his go, then Charlotte gets her go.”
The Duke said he was impressed with his children’s passion for music at such an early age.
“There’s a lot of hip movements going along,” he describes of the morning music sessions.
“There’s a lot of dressing up. Charlotte, particularly, is running around the kitchen in her dresses and ballet stuff and everything.”
William added that even his youngest child Prince Louis, who is three-years-old, loves joining in the sound-filled fun.
“[Charlotte] goes completely crazy with Louis following her around trying to do the same thing. It’s a really happy moment where the children just enjoy dancing, messing around and singing.”
In another sweet anecdote, William revealed Charlotte loves Columbian singer Shakira—with her song Waka Waka (This Time For Africa) a personal favourite.
William concluded with a beautiful early memory that exemplified his family’s love of music—including his mum Princess Diana.
He recalled driving in the car with his mum listening to their old favourite tune, Tina Turner’s The Best: “[She’d be] singing at the top of her voice. And we’d even get the policeman in the car, he’d be occasionally singing along, as well.
“You’d be singing and listening to the music right the way out into the gates of school, when they dropped you off… When I listen to it now, it takes me back to those car rides and brings back lots of memories of my mother.”