Prince George 'doesn’t know any different' and abolishing monarchy would 'free' him from royal burden
Scottish ex-politician Nicola Sturgeon has 'huge sympathy' for the royals and argues 'getting rid' of The Firm could be better for George
From the moment he was first introduced to the world's media outside St Mary's Hospital to his first day at Eton earlier this month, most of Prince George's life has been documented. As second in the royal line of succession, he's a public figure in his own right and the responsibility and scrutiny is only going to increase the older he gets.
Former First Minister of Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon, has questioned how fair this is and argued that abolishing the British monarchy would help "free" George.
"I would say one of the arguments for getting rid of the monarchy is for the sake of members of the Royal Family, like Prince George, for example," she said on Channel 4's documentary, The Royals: Time To Go. "That kid doesn't know any different."
Nicola continued, "He has a certain life ahead of him that he has no choice over. Is that really fair? And so I actually think it is one of the arguments for getting rid of the monarchy, to free the future members of the Royal Family from carrying that burden."
Whether you agree with the former politician's argument or not, there's no doubt that Prince George has already had a lot of experiences we could only imagine. Like his father before him, he's growing up knowing that he'll be King one day and has been gradually introduced to public appearances by the Prince and Princess of Wales.
We see glimpses of him at occasions like Trooping the Colour and Wimbledon, as well as in birthday photos, but other than that he's given as much privacy as possible.
According to royal biographer Robert Lacey in Battle of Brothers, George was seven when he was told about his future role. He claimed, "Sometime around the boy's seventh birthday in the summer of 2020 it is thought that his parents went into more detail about what the little prince's life of future royal 'service and duty' would particularly involve."
The decision to reportedly tell him later is thought to have been influenced by how William found out and suggests that the Waleses are taking steps to lessen the "burden" on George.
"William struggled with [knowing] when he was a young man and he's very keen George doesn't experience that same sense of burden from an early age," royal expert Katie Nicholl told OK! in 2022. "George understands the order of succession, and he knows that one day he will be king, but he also knows that's a long way in the future. It's not made into a big deal."
He's being raised quite differently to Prince William and King Charles too - and we can't forget about the impact of this. William and Kate personally do school drop-offs and pick-ups and pause royal visits during the school holidays to be there for their children. They're very hands-on and aware of how George, Charlotte and Louis's childhoods could affect how they are as adults.
Speaking to Eugene Levy on The Reluctant Traveler, Prince William said, "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 it's about making sure we feel we can look after our family and our children in a way we feel is best for their future."
