On October 14, 2025, the usually tranquil orchards of Long Meadow Cider in Northern Ireland buzzed with more than just the hum of apple presses. The Prince and Princess of Wales, William and Kate, made a surprise visit—marking their first trip to the region since 2022—and their presence quickly became the talk of both royal watchers and local cider enthusiasts alike. But beyond the formalities and photo ops, what truly captured attention was the glimpse into the family life of Britain’s future king and queen, and the surprisingly relatable chaos of their kitchen experiments back at Adelaide Cottage.
As reported by Hello! and InStyle, Kate Middleton, dressed down for the occasion, didn’t hesitate to share a candid family anecdote as she and William observed the cider-making process. “We tried this at home with a hand press. It was quite good fun with the children. It was very messy,” she admitted, referring to her attempts at making apple cider with Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis. The scene painted by Kate was far from the polished perfection often associated with royal life—think sticky hands, giggles, and apples rolling across the kitchen floor.
Kate’s willingness to embrace a little mess for the sake of family bonding isn’t new. On the “Happy Mum, Happy Baby” podcast back in 2020, she confessed she’s happiest “when I’m with my family outside in the countryside, and we’re all filthy dirty.” The hands-on approach extends to the kitchen as well. Baking is a favorite pastime—especially when it comes to her children’s birthdays. As she once revealed on A Berry Royal Christmas, “I love making the cake. It’s become a bit of a tradition that I stay up ‘til midnight with ridiculous amounts of cake mix and icing, and I make far too much. But I love it.”
During the Long Meadow visit, Kate even sampled apple cider vinegar straight from the source. “I like that. I haven’t taken it as a shot like this before, but I love to put it [on] salads and things like that,” she remarked, according to Hello!. Her openness about trying new things—and sometimes failing spectacularly—has become a hallmark of her public persona.
But it’s not just about culinary adventures. The Wales family, it seems, is committed to a kind of grounded normalcy that’s rare in royal circles. According to People and The Express, both William and Kate go out of their way to create a stable, happy environment for their children. “Those children look pretty happy with life,” a palace insider told People. “A lot of it is the stabilizing normality Kate brings—and that’s how she grew up. William absolutely loves it.”
Indeed, William himself has spoken openly about the importance of family. In a conversation with Eugene Levy on The Reluctant Traveller, he explained, “For me, the most important thing in my life is family, and everything is about the future and about if you don’t start the children off now with a happy, healthy, stable home, I feel you’re setting them up for a bit of a hard time and a fall.”
So what does normalcy look like in the Wales household? For starters, there are strict limits on technology. “None of our children have any phones, which we’re very strict about,” William told Levy. That means Prince George, now 12, Princess Charlotte, 10, and Prince Louis, 7, are growing up largely disconnected from the digital distractions that dominate many of their peers’ lives.
Family dinners are a daily ritual, with everyone gathering around the table to talk about their day. “We sit and chat, it’s really important,” William said. The children are expected to participate in chores, earning their pocket money by helping set the table, clear their plates, and tidy up—no preferential treatment, despite their royal status, as royal expert Katie Nicholl shared with The Mirror.
When it comes to school, William and Kate prefer to handle drop-offs and pick-ups themselves, striving to keep their children’s routines as ordinary as possible. Fellow parents at Lambrook School have often remarked on the couple’s reliability at the school gates, despite their demanding public roles.
Open communication is another cornerstone of their parenting philosophy. After Kate’s recent cancer diagnosis, William explained, “We’re a very open family, so we talk about things that bother us, and things that trouble us, but you never quite know the knock-on effects that it can have. It’s just important to be there for each other and to kind of reassure the children that everything is okay.” He added that the children have coped “brilliantly well” in the face of this family challenge.
Even the help they receive is intentionally limited. While the Wales children do have a full-time nanny, Maria Turrion Borrallo, she does not live with the family at Adelaide Cottage. This arrangement emphasizes the family-centric environment William and Kate are determined to maintain.
Discipline in the household is handled with a calm, measured approach. Shouting is strictly forbidden—both for the children and the adults. “Shouting is absolutely ‘off limits’ for the children and any hint of shouting at each other is dealt with by removal,” a source told The Sun. Instead, conflicts are addressed on a “chat sofa,” where children are encouraged to talk through their feelings with a parent present. “Things are explained, and consequences outlined, and they never shout at them,” the insider continued.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, these efforts at normalcy and hands-on parenting have resulted in a trio of children who, behind palace doors, are like any other siblings. Royal commentator Katie Nicholl noted, “They are far more ordinary than many might imagine—the kids even have to do chores in return for their pocket money. It’s about them wanting to have a normal, happy, ordinary family home and lifestyle which, at Adelaide Cottage, they are really achieving.”
The children’s hobbies reflect this down-to-earth upbringing. Prince Louis, the youngest, is known for his playful antics at public events and has developed a quirky passion for collecting conkers, or horse chestnuts. This hobby once nearly landed him his first official “job offer,” though Kate politely declined on his behalf, according to The Express.
Prince George, meanwhile, has a well-documented fondness for homemade apple juice—a detail shared by radio host Roman Kemp, who recalled that George was so taken with a crate of homemade juice that he begged his mother for more. It’s easy to imagine that this enthusiasm helped inspire the family’s recent apple-pressing adventure.
While these messy, creative activities may not be daily occurrences, they underscore a core value for William and Kate: family time comes first, even if it means a little chaos in the kitchen. As royal editor Emma noted, “It appears that the messy, creative activities are the ones the Wales children find the most fun and who can blame them?”
In the end, the Wales family’s approach to parenting—equal parts tradition, structure, and a willingness to get their hands dirty—offers a refreshingly relatable glimpse into royal life. Amid the formal engagements and public scrutiny, it’s the ordinary moments, like apple pressing gone awry, that seem to matter most.
