Royal baby: How to become a well-adjusted Windsor

How do you bring up a future king or queen of Britain? Yahoo! News looks into how William and Kate can prepare their child for their future role.

Some may argue that being born into the Royal family is more of a burden than a privilege. The sense of duty, expectation and scrutiny is enormous and this is magnified when you’re first, second or third in line to the throne, as in the case of Prince Charles, Prince William and the new Royal baby.

William and Kate’s son or daughter will inevitably have a life of luxury and favour, but the Royal couple will also have their work cut out in preparing the child for the pressures of their role as the future king or queen of Britain. It’s likely that they and their advisors will have had discussions about how to tackle this. Being new parents is daunting enough, but being parents to a future monarch is an intimidating task. Especially in William’s case when you are a king-in-waiting yourself.

William knows all about the restrictions of Royal birthright. As a boy he reportedly told his mum that he wanted to be a policeman when he grew up, until brother Harry reminded him that he had to be king.

All children have expectations placed upon them by their parents and families, but being heir to the throne means the child will also be expected to behave in a certain way by the public. Professor Michael Billig, author of the book ‘Talking of the Royal Family’ says they will expect the new member of the Royal family to have an instilled sense of duty, as being Royal is seen as a job.

He said there was a sense that the Royals had a privileged life and that they had to be seen to be giving something back to justify their privilege.

He said: “The public do not like freeloaders. They have to be seen to be working. At the moment the Queen sets a very good profile as she is way beyond the age of retirement and is still working hard. The public like that. Kate being pregnant and working will also go down well.”

[How the papers reported the birth of Prince Charles and Prince William]

In terms of public perception, Billig also thinks it’s important for the Royals to be seen to be doing ‘normal’ activities.

He said: “The public don’t want the baby to be growing up with a too privileged view of the world. The public like to see Royalty partaking in normal things.”

Royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliams says bringing up an heir to the throne in this country is a ‘special challenge’ as the British Royal family is the ‘most high profile in the world’ and the baby’s parents, William and Kate, are ‘the most glamourous Royals.’ Therefore he thinks the interest in the Royal baby will be ‘obsessive.’

He believes that getting the balance right between privacy and access is the key and that lessons have been learned from previous generations of Royals.

He said: “What we’ve seen in the last decade is the changed handling of public relations. In the 1990s, it was a disastrous period for the House of Windsor PR, but now the Royal PR is excellent. It’s so important to arrange media coverage of events and media access. This has worked well with William and Harry. Diana was thrown in the deep end. Now the accent is on helping and supporting. Kate is being eased into the challenging role she’s taken on.”

In terms of nurturing the baby, Fitzwilliams says it’s important for their childhood to be as ‘natural as possible’ and that the influence of Kate’s family and the Queen will be a positive thing.

He said: “The Middletons will be playing a very substantial part in the child’s upbringing. They have such a good family background and Kate had a very happy childhood. Also who could have a better great grandmother than the queen? She took an oath to serve and has done it with dedication. She can’t but be an inspiration to any child growing up.”

Fitzwilliams doesn’t believe in setting down an ideal set of guidelines for a Royal baby as he says the child should have character. He said: “Yes they will face great responsibility one day but we don’t want the new baby to be a robot. The emphasis will be on bringing the child up as spontaneously and happily as possible in a way which also takes into account the child’s needs.”

[10 ways the Royal Baby’s life will be totally different to others born this summer]

Judy Reith, founder of www.parentingpeople.co.uk, which runs coaching courses for mums and dads, says all children, in their first decade, need to feel that they can be a child and not have adult responsibilities placed upon them. She states that parents carry the biggest influence on how we turn out as adults.

She said: “William and Kate, and their wider families, have huge potential here to help this child to have a happy childhood, but also to learn gradually what their future role will entail.  Like any family, they will have their moments when they are fed up with each other, don't feel like doing much and can't face another engagement, but if Kate and William focus on being understanding, listening and empathic, with some time in the diary to be ' normal,' they will help their child to cope with growing up in the spotlight. William and Harry had a lot of help to do this and so far seem to be managing fine.”

Child psychologist and parenting expert Dr Claire Halsey agrees the Royal family are the best people to know how to prepare the new Royal baby for its future role as they can draw on their own experiences to help the child.

She said: “By the very nature of being in that family the child will see their parents engaging in Royal duties. Through natural daily life they will encounter things they will experience later on. Strong loving relationships between parent and child and loving family networks set a child up for whatever their future is.”

[Kate and Wills’ guide to being first time parents]

Getting the balance right between Royal duty and normality and privacy and publicity will be tough, but with parental role models like William and Kate, the baby will be in good hands. The couple have worked hard at this and seem to be getting it right. As Fitzwilliams says they are ‘fantastically popular’. He thinks that although being third in line to the throne is a very significant role, there is plenty of time for the child to prepare and adjust with the help of loving and supportive parents.