Kate Middleton Described Post-Baby Photo Call With Prince George As "Terrifying"

May 07, 2020 by apost team

First-time parenthood on its own is a pretty intimidating experience, but a photo-op a mere few hours post-partum adds a whole other layer to it. As Royal tradition has it, mothers come out with their new-born heirs to the steps of the Lindo Wing of London’s St. Mary's Hospital for a photocall to show off the newest Royal baby to the public.

That’s exactly what happened when Prince George was born in 2013. Although the photos showed a glowing new mother ecstatic to share her son with the world, the Duchess of Cambridge has now admitted the experience was “terrifying.” 

Earlier this year, Kate Middleton opened up to podcast host Giovanna Fletcher on her show Happy, Mum, Happy Baby about Prince George’s debut to the world. The Duchess of Cambridge appeared on the podcast in February to promote her survey, 5 Big Questions on the Under Fives, which aims to promote better education for children under five years of age.

“Yeah, slightly terrifying, slightly terrifying, I’m not going to lie,” Middleton told Fletcher of the photocall.

The Duchess explained why despite her fears, she and Prince William decided to go ahead with the Royal custom. “Everyone had been so supportive and both William and I were really conscious that this was something that everyone was excited about and, you know, we’re hugely grateful for the support that the public had shown us, and actually for us to be able to share that joy and appreciation with the public, I felt was really important," the mother-of-three said.

apost.com

"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,” Middleton added. The mother-of-three also touched on another peculiar Royal tradition for new-parents, which involves the father placing the car seat in their car for the ride home right after the photocall. By the sounds of it, the Duchess wasn’t the only one who was nervous that day.

"We were like ‘What do we do?… in a swaddle?’ ‘How’s this supposed to work?'" Middleton said, referring to her and William's initial confusion.

 "We’d even tried to practice with a little baby, like a little doll, at home but you know it just never works out the way you planned it so it was quite hard to do that on the world’s stage, but no, he did a very good job."

Despite all the nerves, however, the doting mom says it was all worth it, describing the first time she ever held Prince George in her arms “utterly extraordinary.”

"He was very sweet," Middleton said. "And I was also sort of relieved that he was a happy, healthy boy."

What do you think about Middleton being so open about her experience as a young mother in the Royal family? Let us know in the comments – and make sure you pass this along to your friends and family!