Kate Middleton Reveals Whether She's the 'Strict' Parent Compared to Prince William

The Prince and Princess of Wales are parents of three — Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis

Is Kate Middleton the stern parent compared to Prince William? "Surely not!"

The Prince and Princess of Wales, both 41, led the royals at a Buckingham Palace garden party in May, just days after King Charles and Queen Camilla's coronation. While mingling with the specially-invited guests, Princess Kate met Aldith Grandison, 93, and her daughter, Jay Cee La Bouche, and the three women talked about jokes.

"I'm terrible. I'm terrible at jokes," Kate said in a video shared by Sky News, adding that Prince William was, in contrast, "very good."

"You're the strict one," Grandison replied to the royal — to which Princess Kate said with a laugh, "I'm definitely not strict! How can you tell that? Surely not!"

RELATED: Prince William Loves Kate Middleton's 'Stabilizing Normality' for Their Kids: 'That's How She Grew Up' (Exclusive)

Prince William and Princess Kate have set out to give Prince George, 10, Princess Charlotte, 8, and Prince Louis, 5, childhoods that are as normal as possible while also introducing their three kids to their royal roles.

"Those children look pretty happy with life," a palace insider recently told PEOPLE. "A lot of it is the stabilizing normality Kate brings — and that's how she grew up. William absolutely loves it."

Added a source close to the royal household, "Coming from a different background, she appreciates the importance of having family time. She wasn't brought up in that aristocratic setting where you see the children for a short time each day."

Kate, the eldest of Carole and Michael Middleton's three children, was raised in the village of Bucklebury. Her childhood in the country helped inspire her love of the outdoors, and she has recalled how she loved to go "boulder hopping" in the Lake District.

Nowadays, Princess Kate and Prince William regularly drive their kids to school and make sure at least one of them is home for their return whenever possible. And the family is not afraid to get a little messy, whether they're cooking pizza (or baking — Kate is known to stay up late making birthday cakes for her three children) or playing outside. Kate said in a 2020 chat on the Happy Mum, Happy Baby podcast that she is happiest when "I'm with my family outside in the countryside, and we're all filthy dirty."

Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis have also been spotted on ordinary trips to the supermarket or snacking from the trunk of the car while Prince William plays polo.

Prince William is known for having fun with Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis as well — from getting them into sports such as tennis and soccer to introducing them to his passion for flying helicopters. The Prince of Wales' bond with his kids was recently displayed in a series of sweet portraits released to mark Father's Day.

RELATED: How Prince George's Upbringing Differs from Queen Elizabeth and King Charles' Childhoods (Exclusive)

Royal parents often relied on nannies while they carried out their public duties — in fact, when Prince Charles and Princess Anne were young, they were only able to see their monarch mother at two appointed "meetings" each day. Even when Prince Andrew and Prince Edward were born in the 1960s, it was a "nanny-dominated world," biographer Ingrid Seward previously told PEOPLE.

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However, William and Kate were given permission by Queen Elizabeth and then-Prince Charles to focus on their young family above royal duties.

"Royal families over the generations haven't had the chance to get those foundations right, but they have,” said a friend.

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