How Prince William Is Handling Kate Middleton’s Recovery: ‘He Doesn’t Want to Leave It All to the Nanny’

Prince William is putting family first amid wife Kate Middleton’s hospitalization and recovery following abdominal surgery.

Those close to the Prince and Princess of Wales, who are parents to Prince George, 10,  Princess Charlotte, 8, and Prince Louis, 5, say family life is the couple’s priority, with public engagements and trips scheduled around the children and their school vacations. The current situation is no different.

While Kate, 42, is recovering in the hospital from her “planned abdominal surgery,” on Jan. 16, William cleared his calendar to be by his wife’s side and support their family. He is not expected to resume public duties until several days after she returns home from the hospital.

“We know they are a very tight family unit, and he wants to be there for them,” Robert Hardman, author of The Making of a King: King Charles III and the Modern Monarchy, tells PEOPLE in this week’s cover story. “So much of what they do with those kids is about normalizing life and not making them feel like they are in a special gilded cage.”

Prince William and Kate Middleton, the Princess of Wales with their children Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis on Dec. 8, 2023 at Westminster Abbey in London.SAMIR HUSSEIN/WIREIMAGE

The Prince of Wales, 41, who was photographed driving from the hospital after a visit on Jan. 18, will manage the children alongside longtime nanny Maria Teresa Turrion Borrallo and help with school pickups and drop-offs.

“They are a modern royal couple,” adds Hardman. “There would have been more delegation [in the past]. He doesn’t want to leave it all to the nanny.”

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According to the palace, Princess Kate will remain hospitalized for “10 to 14 days, before returning home to continue her recovery” and it will be unlikely for her to “return to public duties until after Easter.”

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A close family friend says the couple doesn’t have “a huge private staff,” and “as a result, William is really hands-on.”

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“He doesn’t want any mistakes made with the next generation. He wants to give them a proper upbringing and lots of love. That is foremost in his mind,” the friend says.

Their family dynamic is “more like one we can all recognize,” adds a source close to the royal household.