As Prince George prepares to celebrate his milestone 10th birthday this coming weekend, all sorts of royal experts and commentators are looking back at his life so far—and at Prince William and Princess Kate's way of raising a future King.
One of the commentators that's repeatedly called upon to weigh in on the Royal Family is former BBC royal correspondent Jennie Bond and, as ever, she has thoughts in this instance as well.
"Even though he has such a big destiny ahead, his parents have tried very hard to make his childhood as normal as possible," Bond told OK!, echoing a sentiment that has often been expressed regarding the Wales children.
For Bond, the central tenet to this normal childhood is the privacy William and Kate have insisted on since George was born.
"Key to that was agreeing with the press that he and his siblings would largely be left alone in exchange for Catherine and William releasing photos of them at key points in their lives," Bond said, referring to the sweet family photos we get to see on the kids' birthdays and on Mother's and Father's Days, among other occasions.
"I don't think it was a written agreement, but an informal arrangement with the press and Catherine took the initiative of suddenly releasing these pictures on special occasions and birthdays.
"Although there had been an agreement with the press that William and Harry would be left alone at school, years had gone by and Harry had been pictured coming out of nightclubs so everything went a bit lax.
"So Catherine's initiative to release these pictures on birthdays made a big difference because the press then realized that if they stepped back, they were going to get these lovely shots that they probably would never get otherwise."
For Bond, this privacy agreement has proven quite beneficial to George in particular, since he seems to be naturally a bit more reserved than his siblings.
"It’s an arrangement that has worked very well and George now copes pretty well with cameras and public attention when he is at big occasions. But even for a 10-year-old, it must be a bit disconcerting," she said.
"Lately I think George has had a bit of luck because Louis has earned himself the reputation of being the kid who clowns around and grabs the spotlight. So that takes the heat off George a bit!"
When it comes to normalcy in George's life, this isn't always easy to come by among the Wales family, with Kate being "acutely aware of the pressure of raising George as the future monarch," as royal expert Angela Levin previously put it.
