Kate Middleton Is a Mom on the Mend While Prince William Takes Over Dad Duties at Home

Prince William’s royal schedule reportedly just got filled with a lot more school runs and other duties, as he’s taking over all parenting responsibilities while Kate Middleton recovers from a “planned abdominal surgery” yesterday.

Kensington Palace announced Wednesday morning that the Princess of Wales had a “successful” surgery and will remain in the hospital for “ten to fourteen days, before returning home to continue her recovery.”

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Insiders told PEOPLE that Prince William has “shifted his schedule” in light of this surgery, which was reportedly “non-cancerous.” (And Kate’s schedule has her “unlikely to return to public duties until after Easter,” according to the palace’s statement.) The outlet reported that he will postpone some engagements to be by his wife’s side and to take care of their kids Prince George, 10, Princess Charlotte, 8, and Prince Louis, 5.

It’s always tough when one parent is out of commission for a while, but the Prince and Princess of Wales seem to do a phenomenal job helping each other in these situations. Like when their kids started Lambrook School at the same time the late Queen Elizabeth II’s health took a turn. Prince William flew to Scotland to be by his beloved Grannie’s side, while Middleton stayed home to pick up her kids from their first day of school.

And in normal times, the couple take turns doing the school run. After one engagement, a man recalled a short chat he had with the royals. “I said to [Princess Kate], ‘It seems strange to see the future Queen doing the school run,’” he said in a video by ITV News. “And [Prince William] said, ‘I do it as well!”

Prince William uses his alone time with kids to share important lessons with them. In a June 2023 interview with The Sunday Times, he shared, “On the school run, we talk about what we see. When we were in London, driving backwards and forwards, we regularly used to see people sitting outside supermarkets, and we’d talk about it. I’d say to the children, ‘Why are they there? What’s going on?’”

“I think it’s in all our interests, it’s the right thing to do, to expose the children, at the right stage, in the right dialogue, so they have an understanding,” he said about teaching his kids about those who are unhoused. “They [will] grow up knowing that actually, do you know what, some of us are very fortunate, some of us need a little bit of a helping hand, some of us need to do a bit more where we can to help others improve their lives.”

In their announcement today, the palace requested that everyone respect the Wales’ privacy. “The Princess of Wales appreciate the interest this statement will generate,” they wrote. “She hopes that the public will understand her desire to maintain as much normality for her children as possible; and her wish that her personal medical information remains private.”

Get well soon, Princess Kate!

Before you go, check out Prince William’s most endearing dad moments.

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