Words:<\/strong> Alice Hall<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/flatplan-plus-content.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2024\/01\/GettyImages-1882179850.jpg” title_text=”The British Royal Family Attend The Christmas Morning Service” force_fullwidth=”on” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content” sticky_enabled=”0″][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” theme_builder_area=”post_content” hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″] As the Princess of Wales recovers from abdominal surgery \u2013 once she is discharged from hospital, she will continue her convalescence at home in Windsor \u2013 the spotlight has swung onto Prince William and how he will \u2018cope\u2019 balancing his royal commitments and increased childcare duties for the couple\u2019s three children, George, Charlotte, and Louis.<\/p>\n According to a source in The Times, since Kate was admitted to hospital, William\u2019s priorities have shifted from \u2018unwavering commitment\u2019 to his royal duties to \u2018100 per cent family first, day job second.\u2019 The royal source said \u2018They want to make sure they have as much normality as possible going forwards.\u2019 Earlier this week, Talk TV royal editor Sarah Hewson said Prince William is cancelling his royal engagements while Princess Kate recovers from surgery: \u2018He wants to be by his wife’s bedside.\u2019 <\/p>\n Inevitably, headlines have already started referring to a \u2018devoted\u2019 William going \u2018full dad\u2019 and \u2018doing all the school runs himself.\u2019 (William will do the school drop-off in Lambrook, Berkshire, twice a day \u2013 a task which is usually shared by the couple). One headline reads: \u2018Full \u201cfather mode\u201d activated, as Prince William prioritises daddy duties\u2019, with the story detailing how he will \u2018continue to provide steady support at home\u2019. <\/p>\n This will, of course, be a worrying time for the royal family, and it sounds like William is doing what any other working parent would try to do in this situation \u2013 keep life as normal as possible for the children, provide emotional support to his spouse and manage work demands around that. <\/p>\n But the \u2018hero\u2019 narrative in much of the media coverage of William, who, after all, is simply carrying out his family duties, plays into the wider discourse that fathers should be celebrated for juggling the tasks that many mums silently get on with every day. It was a similar story when William revealed he styles Charlotte\u2019s hair \u2013 \u2018Never try to do a ponytail! Nightmare\u2019 \u2013 and it made headlines round the world.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text module_class=”custom-quote” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” header_2_font=”Libre Bodoni|||on|||||” header_2_text_align=”center” header_2_text_color=”#333333″ header_2_font_size=”40px” header_2_line_height=”1.2em” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”] Even though, statistically, women (particularly mothers) are carrying much of the \u2018mental load\u2019 in the domestic sphere \u2013 with the ONS finding that women do around 40% more of the household chores and childcare than men \u2013 the media treatment of fathers (especially fathers in the public eye) can be very much biased in their favour. <\/p>\n This is something Louise Redknapp pointed out, when she spoke to The Guardian in 2019 about the way the press dealt with her marriage break-up. \u2018Jamie would then take the kids on holiday and the papers would say: \u201cOh, what an amazing dad.\u201d And he is an amazing dad… But no one patted me on the back when I\u2019d taken the kids on Easter holiday on my own for the past 10 years. Jamie had to work doing the football, it was school holidays, so I\u2019d take them on holiday and never once did anyone say, \u201cwhat a great mum.\u201d It was really tough sitting back and not speaking up,\u2019 she said.<\/p>\n Of course, the royal family is very different from most families in that they have many public-facing duties to attend to \u2013 which must bring their own type of mental load. But they also have the privilege of a team of professional staff on hand to help them with their daily lives. While Kate recovers, William will be assisted at home by the couple\u2019s nanny, Maria Teresa Turrion Borrallo, a graduate of the prestigious Norland College who started working with the royal family in 2014. Kate\u2019s mum, dad and siblings have also reportedly cleared their diaries to rally around George, Charlotte, and Louis during Kate\u2019s recovery. <\/p>\n In the past it has been reported that William is a very hands-on dad who always makes an effort to be present and spend quality time with his children. In an interview with last year, former BBC royal correspondent Jennie Bond said of William, \u2018I very much admire the fact that he\u2019s not a workaholic like his father, he knows how important family life is… He seems to be a full on, hands-on, caring dad.\u2019 So, the fact that he\u2019s doing a few more school runs shouldn\u2019t really be headline news. <\/p>\n Despite this, the coverage of William\u2019s parenting all amounts to the same old trope \u2013 it\u2019s fathers who get applauded for providing care that mothers do day in, day out. So, while the world can\u2019t get enough of William going \u2018full dad\u2019, let\u2019s also take a moment to appreciate the women who have been silently getting on with all these things for years. They deserve to be applauded too.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_divider color=”#111111″ divider_position=”center” divider_weight=”2px” module_class=”custom-divider” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” custom_margin=”0px||0px||false|false” custom_padding=”0px||0px||false|false” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][\/et_pb_divider][et_pb_text module_class=”credit-texts” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” text_font=”|||on|||||” text_orientation=”center” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content” sticky_enabled=”0″] Images:<\/strong> Getty<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The coverage of William\u2019s parenting all amounts to the same old trope \u2013 it\u2019s fathers who get applauded<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":2007,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2006","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-10-hot-stories"],"acf":[],"modified_by":"kschwarz","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2006","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2006"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2006\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2014,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2006\/revisions\/2014"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2007"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2006"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2006"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2006"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\u2018women do around 40% more of the household chores and childcare than men\u2019<\/span><\/h2>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” theme_builder_area=”post_content” hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″]