When it comes to royal children, the infamous “heir and spare” dynamic—where the firstborn child is the heir to the throne, and any children that come after are relegated as “spares”—has existed for generations. That said, no younger sibling of an heir to the throne has spoken out so candidly and frequently about their experience as a “spare” than Prince Harry, who even titled his 2023 memoir Spare as a reflection of what a force that singular word has been in his life.

In the pages of his book, Harry recounted an exchange between his parents, then-Prince Charles and Princess Diana, on the day of his birth in 1984, when Charles supposedly said to Diana, “Wonderful! Now you’ve given me an heir and a spare—my work is done.”

“I was the shadow, the support, the Plan B,” he further wrote. “I was brought into the world in case something happened to Willy.”

The Duke of Sussex has expressed concern recently about his brother Prince William’s children—Prince George, 12, Princess Charlotte, 10, and Prince Louis, 7—telling The Telegraph around the time of Spare’s release that “William and I have talked about it once or twice, and he has made it very clear to me that his kids are not my responsibility, I still feel a responsibility knowing that out of those three children, at least one will end up like me, the spare. And that hurts, that worries me.”

But, according to royal biographer Christopher Andersen, while Harry grew up feeling “lesser than,” the Prince and Princess of Wales “are making sure that none of their children suffer that fate.” He tells Harper’s Bazaar, “They pretty much lavish equal attention on all three, while at the same time nurturing their distinct and different personalities.” Instead of being relegated as “spares,” Andersen adds, “the good thing is that Charlotte and Louis can share the burden, if one wishes to call it that” with George, the firstborn child and heir to the throne.

William and Kate are obviously cognizant of the dynamic and its existence, and have prioritized avoiding it so history doesn’t repeat itself with their three kids. The couple are “very much a mom and dad first,” royal biographer Robert Jobson, whose book The Windsor Legacy is out in January, tells Bazaar, adding that they have the example of Kate’s childhood as the eldest of the three Middleton children to use as a blueprint. “They were loved equally,” Jobson says, noting that Kate’s deep knowledge of early childhood development—one of her chief causes throughout her royal life—has also likely helped with strategies to avoid the harsher repercussions of dynamic that is inevitable with royal siblings. “So she’s studied it as well as coming from a family where there isn’t that dynamic,” Jobson says.

Though the dynamic will always exist—it’s “intrinsically linked to the system,” as Jobson puts it—it goes deeper than just who gets more attention lavished on them. When the heir to the throne becomes first in line—taking on the title of Prince of Wales and the secondary title of the Duke of Cornwall—they inherit the Duchy of Cornwall, which is worth around $40 million every year. William inherited this in 2022, when his father became King Charles III. “And the No. 2 son and No. 2 daughter don’t get anywhere near that money,” Jobson says. “A lot of this comes down to money and jealousy and who’s higher up the totem pole. Someone’s going to have to be the chief, and that’s the way it works. And heavy is the head that wears the crown.”

As for George, Charlotte, and Louis, “Inevitably the time comes when the heir has to take on a different set of responsibilities, and so they haven’t got to that point yet,” royal biographer Robert Hardman, author of books like 2024’s The Making of a King, tells Bazaar. When it comes to William and Kate, “they’re very much keen to keep them all the same.”

Royal commentator Amanda Matta says that one way William and Kate are avoiding the dynamic is because “they don’t force their children into public engagements at such a young age,” she tells Bazaar. “I think you do get the sense with Harry and William, they were brought onto the scene very early and much more frequently than Will and Kate bring their kids out now.”

While there are few specifics of what happens inside their home—“they do guard that very fiercely,” Matta says—“I think they all get the chance to shine,” she adds.

Royal historian Marlene Koenig, who runs the blog Royal Musings, says William and Kate are an altogether different type of parents than the royal family has seen in the past. “I think they’re just much more hands-on parents who make sure that all of their children know they’re loved and that they have a place in the family,” she says. “I think they’re just trying to be much more realistic parents. Even though they’re raising one to be a king, [they’re] making sure that all of the children know they have a place and that they have support and that they’re loved.”

There’s no formula for how to push against a dynamic that has persisted for centuries in the royal family, but William and Kate are working to ensure a level playing field for their three children—a peaceful childhood that William and Harry, for a number of reasons, did not get to enjoy.

As William and Kate have shown, until they take the throne, their family comes first—not just for the sake of their kids, but also for future-proofing the monarchy.

“They’ve taken their time to make sure that their kids have grown up in it with a solid foundation,” Koenig says. “They are much more hands-on and shielding their children, while at the same time easing them into what their lives are going to be serving the crown. And I think that’s important, because you’re going to have a bit more stable kids.”