Now that 6-week-old Archie Harrison is old news (just kidding!), the media is hunting around for the next royal baby watch. An easy target and subject of much fascination is the question of whether Kate Middleton and Prince William have a fourth baby in mind. A new Express report says the answer to that question is a resounding “no,” citing a parenting expert who claims that Kate’s behavior with Prince Louis indicates that the Duchess of Cambridge is done having children.
Express points out that Kate and William were “doting over Prince Louis” at Trooping the Colour a few weeks age. In the publication’s words, Louis “stole the show,” while siblings Prince George (age 5) and Princess Charlotte (age 3) “stood in front of their parents who were busy looking after their little brother.” The phrasing suggests that Kate and William are attending to their 1-year-old’s needs to the point of neglecting their other two children. Most readers will hopefully understand that a 1-year-old simply requires more attention than an older child, but Express seems determined to make something out of Kate and William caring for their youngest in this way.
This is where Victoria Jennings, listed as motherhood expert and founder of Bloom baby classes, comes into play. “As a mum of three, I completely understand how it looks as if Prince Louis is Kate Middleton’s favourite child,” Jennings tells Express. (For the record — we don’t.) “As a parent, things go by in a flash and so you want to nurture the youngest child for as long as possible; this was certainly the case with me and my youngest daughter,” Jennings adds. That’s fair to say: Every mother knows how quickly time can pass, and there can be some wistfulness attached to having a new baby and knowing how quickly they’ll move onto the next phase.
So, how does this play into Kate and William’s family planning? “You just want to baby the third child for as long as possible, especially if you’re thinking they will be your last,” Jennings claims. Having three children is already a “careful juggling act”; Jennings advises: “I’m sure that Kate is no different to all mums in that she loves her children equally, and would do anything for them. There is however only so much of her to go around and so there is always a juggling act between keeping all of them happy and safe at the same time.”
While Jennings makes a fair point about the challenges of parenting an increasingly large family, it seems like a stretch to translate Kate’s involvement in Louis’ life as a sign that this will be her last baby. It would be a much more troubling and noteworthy sign if Kate weren’t paying extra attention to young Louis — at barely over a year old, he needs his mother in ways that his siblings have outgrown. Whether or not Kate is contemplating a third child is entirely between her and William, but we’ll say this: For however many more babies the Duchess of Cambridge has, let’s allow her to dote on them in peace — without suggesting that her childbearing days are done because of it.
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