Throughout their Netflix docuseries and various interviews, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have both spoken a lot about how they chose to parent their two children Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet - here are some of the best lessons we've learnt from them.
- Prince Harry and Meghan Markle may chose to remain private about their family life, but they have shared some insight over the years into the lessons they've learnt from parenting young children.
- From 'growing up as an individual' thanks to the new responsibility to sharing the importance of teaching their kids 'manners,' these are the top lessons we've learnt from the royal couple when it comes to parenting.
- In other royal news, Princess Eugenie is following Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s example to raise ‘eco conscious’ kids.
While royal fans may have been disappointed not to have had the chance to see Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's children earlier this month at King Charles' Coronation, the decision to keep them out of the spotlight is one the royal couple has made over and over again.
The doting parents of Prince Archie Harrison, three, and Princess Lilibet Diana, one, who were both granted new royal titles earlier this year, have a strict yet realistic approach to parenting that, while they have shared is sometimes a struggle, allows both them and their kids to get the most out of life and enjoy being a family.
While privacy is of the utmost importance to the pair, though the average parent may not need to go to the lengths that the royal couple do to protect their children's privacy, the couple have shared a lot of insight into their family life through projects such as their hit Netflix docuseries Harry & Meghan and in candid interviews with press.
Just four months after the birth of their first child Archie, during a visit to South Africa, Meghan opened up about the 'learning' experience of being first-time parents, sharing with every new parent that the 'transition' into parenthood is all about developing new skills.
Talking about her chat with Meghan, a fan who met with the Duchess shared, "She was speaking about motherhood and the transition and said that Archie was a good traveller. She said the transition was quite smooth because he's an easy baby and he was an easy traveller, Harry said he slept on his chest almost 11 hours (during the flight)."
During the same trip, Ash Heese, a manager for the charity Waves for Change, revealed that Meghan told her "parenting is a new strength that her and Harry are learning and developing." The local told Hello! Magazine, "She said he’s the best dad and he said she’s the best mum."
Emphasising the fact that all parents must learn and develop with their children, Harry's close friend David Beckham revealed to ET in February last year that Harry had 'changed' and was 'growing up as an individual' since becoming a dad. He said, "I think he's enjoying being a young father for the first time and that's what we always spoke about.
"When you're a parent, it changes you. He (Harry) always needs to be happy. We love him and he's an amazing person - and that's the most important thing - but I'm proud to see him growing up as an individual and being that person that every father wants to be. Every father wants to be loving to their children and that's what I see with him."
As well as showering their children with love and learning to grow alongside them, both Meghan and Harry are still instilling some non-negotiable values into Archie and Lilibet to set them up for a 'self-sufficient' future.
As well as ensuring that their kids have good manners, as Meghan told The Cut last year, "We always tell him: Manners make the man. Manners, manners, manners, manners, manners," the couple are also passing on their love of activism to their children. Illustrating the importance of being socially and eco conscious through their own work, such as Meghan's "lifelong advocacy for women and girls" that recently saw her as the recipient of a prestigious Women of Vision Award and Prince Harry's promise that huge sums of the profit from his memoir Spare would go to charity, the couple are making sure to be role models for their children.
But there are still times when Meghan has admitted that she could 'rethink' her parenting style. During an episode of her podcast Archetypes, Meghan listened to the business mogul Mellody Hobson, who is the chairwoman of the Starbucks corporation, speak about her family's financial struggles and how she found a workaround to the lack of funds.
Mellody shared a story of how, after she became self-conscious of her teeth at 12 years old, she took it upon herself to go to an orthodontist and work out a payment plan for the dental treatment she wanted. In response, Meghan told the mogul, "I have to rethink my parenting style! Because if that's what yields you, then I've really got to up my game with our kids being self-sufficient."
But perhaps the most important lesson we've learnt from the royal couple is that it's ok to ask for help. Meghan's mother Doria Ragland stepped in after the births of both Meghan's children, living with the couple at Frogmore Cottage for the first few weeks of Archie's life to give a helping hand until they felt comfortable enough on their own. When Doria then returned home to LA, Meghan wasn't afraid to ask for extra help and hired a nanny to give her some extra help her at home.
