Prince William Says Not Giving His Eldest Son a Phone Is Becoming a ‘Tense Issue’

The Prince of Wales, along with his wife, made the joint decision to restrict their children from having phones in an effort to protect them from social media. However, he hinted at possibly easing this rule once they reach high school.

Prince William recently took a five-day trip to Brazil for the Earthshot Prize Awards, where he opened up to Brazilian TV host Luciano Huck about parenting his children alongside his wife, Kate Middleton.

The Prince revealed that he and Kate decided not to give their children — Prince George, 12, Princess Charlotte, 10, and Prince Louis, 7 — cell phones, as he admitted that protecting them from the harms of social media has been "really hard."

William previously discussed the issue during his appearance on the Apple TV series, "The Reluctant Traveler," this past October, but the subject came up again during his chat with Huck.

"Our children don't have phones. I think when George moves on to secondary school, then maybe he might have a phone that has no internet access," the senior royal shared. "And to be honest, it's getting to the point where it's becoming a little bit of a like tense issue."

"But I think he understands why," he continued. "We communicate why we don't think it's right. And again, I think it's the internet access I have a problem with. I think children can access too much stuff they don't need to see online, and so having a phone and text message, the old sort of 'brick phone' as they call them, I think that's fine."

William and Kate have always prioritized giving their children as normal a childhood as possible despite their royal titles. The family of five recently moved from their four-bedroom home in Adelaide Cottage to the much more expansive eight-bedroom Forest Lodge and are said to be settling in well.

"Those children look pretty happy with life," a palace insider told People. "A lot of it is the stabilizing normality Kate brings — and that's how she grew up. William absolutely loves it."

"Coming from a different background, she appreciates the importance of having family time," a source close to the royal household added. "She wasn't brought up in that aristocratic setting where you see the children for a short time each day."

It's been particularly important to achieve a sense of normalcy for the kids as the couple are raising a future monarch. Prince George is second in line to the throne, following his father. His parents delayed telling him about his destiny until he was around seven years old.

"William deliberately delayed this news until the last possible moment. It shows special care and thoughtfulness — it also tells us something about how William felt about the weight of the crown," royal author Robert Lacy shared earlier this year.

"William takes his role as father of the future King as seriously as he takes his role as future King. That's key," added royal biographer Robert Hardman. "His overarching priority is making sure they enjoy it rather than fear it."