Prince William 'practised using seat with doll' before putting newborn George in car
Kate says she felt聽"terrified" about the hundreds of聽people waiting outside the hospital to see her first child.
Saturday 15 February 2020 23:16, UK
Prince William practised with a doll before putting newborn Prince George into a car seat in front of the world's media, the Duchess of Cambridge has revealed.
Kate said the royal couple wondered "what do we do - in a swaddle? How's this supposed to work?"
They knew that any slip up outside St Mary's Hospital in Paddington in July 2013 would be beamed around the world in seconds.
Kate said she felt "slightly terrified" about the hundreds of people waiting to see them, but said she and William felt it was
"really important" to share the public's "joy and appreciation".
Speaking on the Happy Mum Happy Baby podcast, she said: "We'd even tried to practise with a little baby, like a little doll, at home, but you know it just never works out the way you planned it so it was quite hard to do that on the world's stage, but he did a very good job."
Kate said there was "pure joy" on William's face when he became a father, describing it as "really special".
For her, holding George for the first time was "amazing" and "extraordinary".
But once she and William were home, Kate said that being a parent involves being "pulled to your toughest and most unknown places that you hadn't necessarily even thought about before".
The couple have since gone on to have Princess Charlotte and a second son, Prince Louis.
The duchess also told Giovanna Fletcher, who has three children with husband Tom Fletcher from the band McFly, that she struggled with "mum guilt" and had it "all the time".
Kate continued: "Anyone who doesn't (have guilt) as a mother is actually lying," adding that she was "such a hands-on mum".
Parenthood exerted "such a pull" and was a "constant challenge", she added.
The duchess, who has a nanny, Maria Teresa Turrion Borrallo, said she wanted to begin a "generational change" in early years development.
Her Five Big Questions On The Under-Fives survey, launched last month, is intended to spark a conversation about creating the best foundations for children to thrive.
The month-long online poll, conducted by Ipsos Mori on behalf of Kate's Royal Foundation, is thought to be the biggest survey of its kind and the data will guide her future work. It has attracted 200,000 responses.
Kate describes herself in the podcast as "not the happiest of pregnant people" because of the severe form of morning sickness she suffered from - hyperemesis gravidarum, which causes vomiting and can lead to dehydration and weight loss.
She said: "William didn't feel he could do much to help and it's hard for everyone to see you suffering without actually being able to do anything about it."
Asked about what she wanted George, Charlotte and Louis to remember from their childhood, she said: "Is it that I'm sitting down trying to do their maths and spelling homework over the weekend?
"Or is it the fact that we've gone out and lit a bonfire and sat around trying to cook sausages that hasn't worked because it's too wet?
"That's what I would want them to remember, those moments with me as a mother, but also the family going to the beach, getting soaking wet, filling our boots full of water, those are what I would want them to remember."