2020-03-02_People

COPING WITH PREGNANCY

& A NEWBORN IN THE SPOTLIGHT

Kate endured severe morning

sickness—but it was also tough for

her husband. “William didn’t feel he

could do much to help,” she explained,

“and it’s hard for everyone to see

you suffering without actually being

able to do anything about it.” After

George was born, Kate couldn’t wait to

leave St. Mary’s Hospital, but outside

the world was waiting for a photo.

She says she compartmentalized “the

whole thing.” William had practiced

placing a baby seat in the car but

briefly fumbled: “It just never works

out the way you planned it!”

ing sickness that left her hospitalized, she admitted

that she felt “utterly rotten,” telling Fletcher, “I’m

not the happiest of pregnant people.”

She found relief with hypnotherapy, which she

also used during the birth of Prince George in

2013 and her two subsequent deliveries. “I saw

the power of it really, the meditation and the deep

breathing and things like that,” she told Fletcher,

adding that there are “levels” to the practice. “I’m

not going to say that William was standing there

sort of, chanting sweet nothings at me. He defi-

nitely wasn’t! I didn’t even ask him about it, but

it was just something I wanted to do for myself.”

As for labor, “I realized that this was something

I could take control of.... It was hugely powerful,

and because it had been so bad during pregnancy,

I actually really quite liked labor! It was an event

THIS IS WHAT I WANT MY

KIDS TO REMEMBER

Speaking with Fletcher, Kate revealed that a photo she took of

Charlotte smelling a bluebell at the family’s country home in Norfolk

captures the types of moments “that mean so much to me as a parent.”

Her campaign to encourage children to explore nature has its roots

in her own childhood. “I had an amazing granny who devoted a lot of

time to us, playing with us, doing arts and crafts and going to the

greenhouse to do gardening and cooking with us,” she said. Rather

than “sitting down trying to do their maths and spelling homework

over the weekend,” she hopes her children will recall “that we’ve

gone out and lit a bonfire and sat around trying to cook sausages.”

that I knew there was going to be an ending to!”

While other moms struggle to get their bearings

immediately after giving birth, Kate had the add-

ed pressure of doing so in the spotlight—with the

entire world waiting to meet her newborn. The

experience was “slightly terrifying; I’m not going

to lie,” she said. “Both William and I were really

conscious that this was something that everyone

was excited about... [and] for us to be able to share

that joy and appreciation with the public, I felt was

really important. But equally it was coupled with

a newborn baby and inexperienced parents and

the uncertainty of what that held, so there were all

sorts of mixed emotions.” Upon returning home,

she admitted, “it wasn’t that quiet in our house-

hold! William was like, ‘Oh, my gosh, is this what

parenting is going to be like?’ ”

These days the family of five has settled into a

steady routine, with George and Charlotte both in

school near the family’s Kensington Palace home

and nanny Maria Turrion Borrallo on hand to

offer additional help. Kate and William take turns

Sweet

Inspiration

This photo of

Charlotte smelling

a bluebell is one

of Kate’s favorites.

“I try every day to

put moments like

that in,” she says.