He may be the future king of Britain, but for now Prince George of
Cambridge is just a little "rascal" according to his proud father Prince
William.
Sitting in his garden at
Kensington Palace on a warm summer day, the Duke of Cambridge, second in
line to the British throne, George is already quite a
character in his first official interview since the birth in London on
July 22.
"He's a little bit of a
rascal, I'll put it that way," William said. "He either
reminds me of my brother or me when I was younger, I'm not sure, but
he's doing very well at the moment."
"He's growing quite
quickly actually. But he's a little fighter -- he wriggles around quite a
lot and he doesn't want to go to sleep that much."
William said his wife
Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge, has been handling more of the night
duties with baby George -- and admitted he's looking forward to going
back to his job as a Royal Air Force search-and-rescue pilot in order to
catch up on some much-needed sleep.
"Well, as a few fathers
might know, I'm actually quite looking forward to going back to work
(to) get some sleep. So I'm just hoping the first few shifts I go back I
don't have any night jobs."
William, dressed casually
in blue jeans and a polo shirt, laughed as he described the moment he
and Catherine appeared on the steps at the Lindo Wing of St. Mary's
Hospital in London to show baby George to the world for the first time.
Prince William said: "I
think more shock was the feeling I felt, but I was on such a high
anyway, and so was Catherine, about George that really we were happy to
show him off to whoever wanted to see him."
"As any new parent
knows, you're only too happy to show off your new child and, you know,
proclaim that he is the best looking or the best everything. It's nice
that people want to see George -- I'm just glad he wasn't screaming his
head off the whole way through," he said with a laugh.
Fathers around the world
watched in disbelief as William, surrounded by hundreds of press
photographers, deftly secured his son's car seat in the back of his
vehicle on the first try -- but the prince admitted there was more than
luck involved in the maneuver.
"Believe, me it wasn't
my first time," William said, "and I know there's been some speculation
about that. I had to practice, I really did -- I was terrified it was
going to fall off or the door wasn't going to close properly."
While the pictures of
William climbing behind the wheel and driving his young family home from
the hospital may have reinforced perceptions that he'll bring a more
modern approach to Britain's monarchy, it was
simply more about doing things his way.
He said: "I am as
independent as I want to be, same as Catherine and Harry. We've all
grown up differently to other generations and I very much feel if that I
can do it myself, I want to do it myself."
"There are times where
you can't do it yourself and the system takes over, or it's appropriate
to do things differently. But I think driving your son and your wife
away from hospital was really important to me."
While the future king
may have prevailed on the issue of driving his family home, he says he
was less successful at avoiding that hallowed tradition of new
parenthood: changing the first diaper.
"I did the first nappy,
it's a badge of honor," he joked. "I wasn't allowed to get away with
that. I had every midwife staring at me, saying: 'You do it, you do
it.'"
William said Catherine is doing "a fantastic job" with baby George and that his young family is now his priority.
The prince said last
week that he will miss living on the Welsh island of Anglesey when his
three-year tour as an RAF pilot there comes to an end next month.
"For me, Catherine and
now little George are my priorities -- and Lupo," the prince said with a
smile. Thankfully Lupo, the couple's Cocker Spaniel, seems to be on
board with the new addition to the family.
"He's coping all right,
actually. As a lot of people know who have got dogs and bringing a
newborn back, they take a little bit of time to adapt, but he's been all
right so far. He's been slobbering around the house a bit, so he's
perfectly happy."
One of William's great
passions is saving endangered species in Africa. He also said he wants
George to experience the same Africa he saw as a young man and spark a
passion for preserving the unique wildlife there, much as his father,
Prince Charles, did with him.
"I'll have toy elephants
and rhinos around the room," William joked. "We'll cover it in lots of
bushes and things like that, make him grow up as if he's in the bush."
In the meantime, William
said the possibility of his son carrying on the royal family's legacy
in Africa isn't an immediate concern.
"At the moment, the only
legacy I want to pass on to him is to sleep more and maybe not have to
change his nappy so many times," he laughed.
And like any new mother or father, the future monarch said he was surprised and amazed by parenthood so far.
"The last few weeks for
me have been a very different emotional experience, something I never
thought I would feel myself. And I find, again it's only been a short
period, but a lot of things affect me differently now."
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