Prince William talks about homeschooling George and Charlotte

Prince William has revealed his patience has been tested while homeschooling his children in lockdown, and that he’s been struggling to teach Year 2 maths.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, both 38, are spending lockdown at their Norfolk home Amner Hall with their children Prince George, seven, Princess Charlotte, five, and Prince Louis, two.  

Prince George is in his final year of infant school at Thomas’s Battersea, in south west London. His little sister Princess Charlotte joined him in September and is currently in the reception class.

But the royal children have been homeschooled since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, which Prince William admits has been a struggle.

Speaking on BBC Radio 5Live’s That Peter Crouch podcast, which was recorded partially via Zoom and partially at Kensington Palace in March, the heir said: ‘I’ve found it pretty testing, not going to lie, trying to keep the children engaged in some kind of work, it’s been an interesting few months.

While Peter Crouch, who has four children aged between one and nine with wife Abbey Clancy, revealed he’s become very interested in learning about Normans, the royal said he’s learned more about himself.

‘I’ve learned through homeschooling that my patience is a lot shorter than I thought it was, that’s probably been the biggest eye opener for me, and that my wife has super patience,’ the duke revealed. 

‘Basically we’re a good team tag session, I come in with the children and try and get them to do something and Catherine comes in when frankly everything has gone wrong.  

Speaking on BBC Radio 5Live’s That Peter Crouch podcast , which was recorded partially via Zoom and partially at Kensington Palace in March, the heir revealed his patience has been tested while homeschooling. He is pictured at Sandrinham earlier this month

‘I have to admit I’m a bit embarrassed about my maths knowledge, I can’t do Year 2 maths,’ he added.

While the Duchess of Cambridge studied maths to A-level, William hasn’t pursued the subject since his GCSEs at Eton.   

William met Kate Middleton in 2003, when they were both students at University of St Andrews where they studied Geography and Art History respectively. 

William met England striker Peter Crouch and his co-hosts Tom Fordyce and Chris Stark for a special podcast, ahead of the Heads Up FA Cup final this weekend, which has been named after the duke’s mental health charity.

In the informal chat, William joked that the hosts should call him ‘Your Royal Highness’ before he clarified  ‘no William will do, I’ve been called all sorts, but just William please’.

William added he was ‘a bit embarrassed’ that he ‘can’t do Year 2 maths’ while homeschooling Prince George. He is pictured with George, seven, on his first day of Year 2 at Thomas’ Battersea in Septmeber

The first part of the podcast was recorded in March at Kensington Palace, before the team met up again via Zoom this month to discuss the coronavirus pandemic.

Joking with the podcasters, William said he ‘checked the silver’ after they left to make sure they hadn’t stolen anything before teasing ‘we didn’t give you the nice plates, we gave you the really c**p plates, we didn’t trust you to not take them.’ 

The prince also spoken about mental health, his love for football, and how he’s coped in lockdown. 

In a clip from the episode, William joked there must be ‘an Uber driver out there on the floor being frisked’ after he brought Peter, Chris, and Tom a curry from Samrat Indian Restaurant in Ealing, west London, which was delivered to Kensington Palace.

Prince William has taken part in a special episode of Peter Crouch’s podcast to talk about his Heads Up campaign. William invited Peter, as well as hosts Tom Fordyce and Chris Stark, to his Kensington Palace home, pictured, in March before finishing the episode via video call earlier this month

Available today, the podcast release comes after details from Finding Freedom, the new bombshell book on Prince Harry, 35, and Meghan Markle, 38, was revealed at the weekend – laying bare the fractious relationship between the royal brothers.   

The future king also revealed his takeaway dish of choice is a chicken masala.

‘I love that, I love a bit of flavour, I’m not a Vindaloo man,’ he added.

The father-of-three also said that he usually ends up playing right back when he plays football as his ‘left foot is useless’.

The second-in-line, who is also President of the FA, added that former Arsenal player and French international Thierry Henry is one of his favourite footballers and that’s  he’s felt more connected to his beloved Aston Villa since becoming a Dad. 

In a clip shared to Kensington Palace’s Instagram this morning, William said that he could see Prince George being Aston Villa’s ‘all time top goal scorer’ alongside his royal duties

‘I support Villa because it was the first FA cup game I went to, it was Villa-Bolton, I remember sitting in the stands with my mates on edge aged 12, the atmosphere was great, the camaraderie  was great. 

‘I desperately didn’t want to support Chelsea or Man U like everyone else at school and I liked the idea that Villa had a real history like it, I was born in 82 and my friends told me about history of club and why it mattered, I felt a real connection with the club, I felt with some of the bigger clubs were harder to connect with, but Villa was a real proud Midlands club. I find now sometimes I go to Africa a places and talk about Villa and they’re like “What?”.

‘My family don’t have much experience with football, it’s been racing for decades and then me with football.

Helen Haslem, head of the lower school greets Princess Charlotte as she arrives for her first day of school, with her brother Prince George (hidden) and her parents the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, at Thomas’s Battersea in September. The pair have been homeschooled during the pandemic, which William says Kate has thrived at

‘It’s my release, since becoming a Dad football’s become way more important to me than it ever use to, it’s changed a lot.

‘I need to go and be amongst other guys and let out a bit of steam and shout a bit and not abuse the referee, as I’m the president of the FA and I can’t do that,  but in my head I am. 

William added that his children are also turning into football fans, and joked that George could be Aston Villa’s top striker.  

Prince George, pictured,  is in his final year of infant school at Thomas’s Battersea, in south west London. His little sister Princess Charlotte joined him in September and is currently in the reception class. He is pictured on his first day of the school year

‘The kids enjoy it, I took George and Charlotte a while back to the Norwich Villa game and George got really into at the end, I’m trying not to make him be a Villa fan I’m going to let him go his own way.

‘I think previously I was worried about him supporting Chelsea but now that Frank’s [Lampard] come in I think I’d be okay with it. 

‘I do like the value and the ethos of the club I want them to look after their players and set a good example for young fans.’