Kate Middleton Coped with Jet Lag in the Caribbean by Organizing Play Dates for Her Kids at 4 a.m.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

published 27 March 2022

The Cambridges have touched down back home in the U.K. just in time for Mother’s Day in Britain, observed today across the pond.

And, while the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are now reunited with kids Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis, it seems even when they were in the Caribbean this past week, William and Kate’s trio were on their mind.

To cope with jet lag—the ever-present enemy of the world traveler—Kate turned to 4 a.m. WhatsApp conversations inside The Royal Suite at the San Ignacio Hotel in Belize to organize play dates for her kids, according to royal expert Rebecca English of The Daily Mail.

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“For the Duchess of Cambridge, a mother’s duties never end,” English wrote. “So, when Kate’s jet lag kicked in during this week’s Caribbean tour, seeing her wide awake in the middle of the night, I’m told she has spent the time ‘tap-tap-tapping’ WhatsApp messages, organizing everything from George’s football matches to Charlotte’s ballet lessons and little Louis’ bedtime routine back in the U.K.”

English said the Cambridges ensure that their departure and arrival times for royal tours “fit around kissing the children goodnight or giving them breakfast,” she wrote. “Their flight on the official RAF Voyager jet tonight will get them back just in time for a nice Mother’s Day brunch tomorrow.”

It’s the new way to juggle being a working royal and a parent, English said, “one that the couple have developed through learning lessons from the past. The Queen’s own first trip to Jamaica in 1953 was part of a Commonwealth tour that took her away from her own young family for six long months.” (Son Prince Charles was born in 1948 and daughter Princess Anne was born in 1950.)

“Home life calls even, or perhaps especially, while on tour thousands of miles from home, even though the Cambridges have vowed never to undertake trips lasting much longer than a week while their children are young,” English wrote.

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Rachel Burchfield is a writer, editor, and podcaster whose primary interests are fashion and beauty, society and culture, and, most especially, the British Royal Family and other royal families around the world. She serves as Marie Claire’s Senior Celebrity and Royals Editor and has also contributed to publications like Allure, Cosmopolitan, Elle, Glamour, Harper’s Bazaar, InStyle, People, Vanity Fair, Vogue, and W, among others. Before taking on her current role with Marie Claire, Rachel served as its Weekend Editor and later Royals Editor. She is the cohost of Podcast Royal, a show that was named a top five royal podcast by The New York Times. A voracious reader and lover of books, Rachel also hosts I’d Rather Be Reading, which spotlights the best current nonfiction books hitting the market and interviews the authors of them. Rachel frequently appears as a media commentator, and she or her work has appeared on outlets like NBC’s Today Show, ABC’s Good Morning America, CNN, and more.