Prince William has revealed none of his children are allowed have mobile phones as he spoke about the importance of sitting down at the table for family meals.
The Prince of Wales said he and his wife Kate had imposed a ‘strict’ ban on the devices for Prince George, 12, Princess Charlotte, 10, and Prince Louis, seven.
William, 43, added that he wants to ‘do what’s best for my children’ in an appearance on actor Eugene Levy’s Apple TV+ travel series The Reluctant Traveler.
When Levy asked if the Waleses and their children eat together, the Prince said: ‘Yes absolutely, yes definitely. So, we sit and chat, it’s really important. None of our children have any phones, which we’re very strict about.’
It comes amid the growing Smartphone Free Childhood movement in which parents commit to only give their child a smartphone aged 14, with no social media until 16.
Among those leading calls to ban smartphones in schools in recent months have been Esther Ghey, the mother of murdered transgender teenager Brianna Ghey.
Jack Thorne, creator of Netflix hit Adolescence, has also backed the campaign amid calls for better legislation to help parents navigate dangers of the online world.
In February, Barnet Council in London became the UK’s first to ban smartphones from all its schools, in a rule affecting more than 60,000 pupils since this month.
Prince William and Eugene Levy have a drink in a pub during the actor’s new Apple TV+ series
Prince William and Kate with Louis, George and Charlotte at Buckingham Palace on June 14
William shows Charles and Harry his mobile phone at the Invictus Games in London in 2014
While Barnet was the first local authority to include secondary schools in a phone ban, other councils across England including Ealing, St Albans, Cambridgeshire, Petersfield and Hampshire have also prohibited phone use in primary schools.
Meanwhile a Dutch social movement called The Offline Club is burgeoning, which organises UK community events where attendees lock their phones away.
The Online Safety Act came into effect this year, providing a new set of laws that protect children and adults online.
The Act has given providers new duties to implement systems and processes to reduce the risk that their services are used for illegal activity, and to take down illegal content when it does appear.
Specific protections have been designed for children. Platforms are required to prevent children from accessing harmful and age-inappropriate content, and provide parents and children with clear and accessible ways to report problems online when they do arise.
During William’s interview with Levy, he spoke about how the children take part in a range of activities without the distraction of mobile phones.
The Prince said: ‘So, Louis loves the trampoline, so he’s obsessed with trampolining and actually Charlotte does a lot as well.
‘As far as I can tell they just end up jumping up and down on the trampoline, beating each other up, most of the time. Apparently, there is an art to it.
‘Charlotte does her netball as well and her ballet and so keeping them busy with sports and being outdoors is really important.’
Prince William appears on actor Eugene Levy’s Apple TV+ travel series The Reluctant Traveler
Levy asked if the Waleses and their children eat together, and William said: ‘Yes absolutely’
Kate advocates children spending time in the natural world and helped create the family-friendly Back To Nature play garden that was exhibited at the Chelsea Flower Show in 2019.
And William spoke last month about making sure his children grow up learning to play an instrument as he believes music is ‘crucial’, with Charlotte reportedly following in her mother’s footsteps and learning the piano, George is thought to play the guitar and Louis has drum lessons.
The Prince told Levy: ‘They’re trying to learn musical instruments. I’m not sure how successful we’re being with that. George loves his football and his hockey…’
George also appears to have a love of history, with his father saying the young Prince is the person to ask about facts when Levy joked the Windsors would not have to go on the family history show Who Do You Think You Are?
William tells the actor, during the episode called Living The Royal Life In The UK: ‘I think I probably need some history lessons, Eugene. So, I could do with that.
‘Actually, George my son is way better in history than I am and I have to check with him now on my dates.’
William also spoke about how he was trying to avoid the ‘mistakes’ his parents made.
The Prince said his childhood ‘feeling of safety, security, love’ was cut short when his mother Princess Diana and father King Charles III separated when he was a young boy.
He told Levy: ‘Getting the balance of work and family life right is really important.
‘Because 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.’
The episode called Living the Royal Life in the UK sees Levy interview William about royal life
William tells Levy that the children take part in activities without the distraction of phones
When Levy, star of the series Schitt’s Creek, suggested to William a ‘normal homelife’ started with his mother, the prince replied: ‘Yes definitely, I think it’s really important that that atmosphere is created at home.
‘You have to have that warmth, that feeling of safety, security, love. That all has to be there, and that was certainly part of my childhood.
‘My parents got divorced at eight, so that lasted a short period of time.
‘But, you take that and you learn from it and you try and make sure you don’t do the same mistakes as your parents.
‘I think we all try and do that and I just want to do what’s best for my children, but I know that the drama and the stress when you’re small really affects you when you’re older.’
William appeared to misremember the date of his parents’ marriage breakup, as prime minister John Major announced in 1992 Charles and Diana were to separate and they divorced in 1996, the year William turned 14.
The Princess of Wales and the King were diagnosed with cancer early last year with Kate now in remission while Charles is receiving ongoing treatment.
‘You know, I’m so proud of my wife and my father, for how they’ve handled all of last year, my children have managed brilliantly as well,’ said the Prince.
When asked how the health scare affected the children, William replied: ‘Everyone has their own coping mechanisms for these sorts of things, and children are constantly learning and adapting.
‘We try to make sure we give them the security and the safety that they need.’
The Reluctant Traveller With Eugene Levy Season 3 premieres on Apple TV+ today
