How Kate and William are avoiding Charlotte and Louis being seen as 'spares'

Prince William and Princess Kate want to shelter their youngest children from feeling like — and being seen as — "spares."

Historically, being the spare hasn't worked out very well for the younger royal siblings, culminating of course with Prince Harry's scathing memoir, fittingly titled Spare.

So Kate and William are keenly aware that they don't want Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis to live in their older brother Prince George's shadow, even though the little boy is destined to be King one day.

"I think William and Kate see George as primus inter pares — first among equals," royal expert Phil Dampier commented, speaking to Fabulous.

"Obviously he is the most important one. Yes, he is the future King but the way things are going Charlotte and Louis may have major roles in the future. Certainly the royal family will need them as they are getting thin on the ground."

Phil further explained that the children's royal mum wants the three of them to have a similar childhood to her own.

"Kate has always been close to her siblings and she wants her children to share the same sort of bond," the expert said.

"Prince Harry always felt like 'The Spare' but perhaps that won’t happen with Charlotte and Louis as there are two of them and they will support each other, as well as George."

Certainly, as you would expect from such doting parents, Kate and Will don't seem to treat George any differently than his siblings. With all three children, they have gradually introduced them into public life with age-appropriate engagements.

For example, Prince George was allowed to go watch Wimbledon for the first time in 2022, while his sister Charlotte was allowed to come along the next year. In this case, the distinction was only about age, and not in any way about ranking.

They have also enrolled the three little ones in the same school, Lambrook, and Phil believes they're likely to send them all to the same school again once they age out of their current one. (For George, that time is coming up fast, with the others a smidge behind.)