Duchess Catherine is renowned for her unwavering ability to tackle any and every situation with poise and grace – and that includes the overwhelming royal photo calls following the births of her three children.
Indeed the Duchess of Cambridge left many in various states of shock and awe when she appeared all smiles, looking to be completely at ease on the steps of London’s Lindo Wing shortly after giving birth to Prince George 2013, Princess Charlotte in 2015 and Prince Louis in 2017.
But in an emotional admission, the 38-year-old mum has opened up about a reality of the globally watched moment that many people might have missed.
There was a lot more going on behind the scenes of Kate’s first royal baby photo call.
(Getty)Kate recently partook in a royal first podcast, named Happy Mum, Happy Baby, which delves into the world of parenting with host and author Giovanna Fletcher.
The Duchess partook in the special episode of the podcast to coincide with her nationally launched survey – ‘Five Big Questions’ which is aimed towards uncovering unique and new opportunities for children under five, and to inform those in power to help in providing the best possible upbringing for them.
Speaking openly on the podcast, Kate revealed a few home truths about the realities of becoming a new mum whilst being one of the most watched people in the world.
“Everyone had been so supportive [about her pregnancy with Prince George] 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,” the royal mum explained.
Because of this, the couple wanted to share that “joy and appreciation with the public”.
“I felt [it] 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,” she continued.
The royals were just like any other first time parents, Kate revealed.
(Getty)While she looked completely calm and natural, Kate revealed that the actual photo call in itself was “terrifying, slightly terrifying, I’m not going to lie”.
And it wasn’t just the hundreds of camera flashes the new mum was focused on, either.
The night before, Kate admitted that she’d had a difficult time coming to terms with everything.
“I remember it was one of the hottest days and night with huge thunderstorms so I didn’t get a huge amount of sleep, but George did, which was really great,” she told Giovanna.
“I was also sort of relieved that he was a happy, healthy boy.”
But as the photo call took place, there was only one thing Kate truly wanted to do: “I was really desperate to get home and get back to normality.”
WATCH: The Cambridges present Princess Charlotte to the world for the first time. Story continues after video…
Kate also admitted that the first time parents had a few struggles along the way – including sussing out how to secure the baby car seat.
“We were like ‘What do we do?… in a swaddle?’ ‘How’s this supposed to work?’,” Kate candidly said.
“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.”
In another beautiful reveal, a new image of Princess Charlotte was released in time with the new podcast – in the image, taken in 2019, Charlotte is seen smelling a bluebell flower.
Kate opened up about the candid moment, saying how happy she was to give her children a childhood where they could appreciate the little things.
“I think the things that really resonate with me most are the simple things and actually I see that now with my own children,” she said.
Life now is so busy, so distracting and actually sometimes the simple things like watching a fire on a really rainy day provides such enjoyment.”
Kate snapped a beautiful candid moment with Princess Charlotte on their country farm in 2019.
(The Duchess of Cambridge)
