Meghan Markle is celebrating her 42nd birthday today, likely at home with her two children, Prince Archie, four, and Princess Lilibet, two.
Parenting experts spoke exclusively to Express.co.uk to explain how the Duchess of Sussex raises her children and what techniques she uses.
Georgina Sturmer, a parenting expert said: “By allowing her children to grow up in private, Meghan is giving them an invaluable opportunity to figure out who they are.
“They will have the chance to build friendships, to take risks, to try new things, and to make mistakes without the weight of the world’s gaze on them.
“As well as allowing her children to develop their own personalities, Meghan will be shielding them from a public ‘narrative’ about who they are.
“Maybe one of them is the cheeky one, the clever one, the silly one. We all know what it’s like for us to grow up with these labels in our own families.
“But imagine growing up with the knowledge that total strangers already have a sense of who you are.”
Growing up in the Royal Family means the world’s gaze constantly on you, which Ms Sturmer argues can be “negative”.
She explained: “Meghan is also protecting her children from the stress and hypervigilance that might accompany a public engagement.
“As children, if we have negative experiences, we often believe that we are to blame (even if we are reassured otherwise).
“Imagine a scenario where a child does the wrong thing, or says the wrong thing, in front of a public audience.
“Embarrassment and shame are sure to follow. Her approach protects her children from experiencing this.”
Parenting expert Nathan Dennis also spoke exclusively to Express.co.uk about Meghan’s parenting style.
He said: “Meghan’s situation is completely different to what most of us will ever experience: not only is she a celebrity, but she’s also now part of a family that is the most famous family in the world.
“As a result, most people feel that they are ‘owed’ access to every detail of the Royal Family’s lives, so Meghan’s protection over her children’s privacy is alien to what the public has come to expect or feel they have a right to.
“With her own negative experience with the media, which she has spoken openly about, I can completely see why her trauma and her experience mean that she’s not going to want her children to be exposed to the same thing.
“Her own lived experience has seen people be cruel, with strong opinions and comments, so being able to mitigate that as a parent I think is a natural instinct.”
The parenting expert opened up about whether Meghan’s children will have close relationships with their first cousins.
Mr Dennis added: “From a parenting perspective, I do think that having relationships with family members, particularly cousins of similar ages, can be really important for children.
“Adding to this, for Meghan and Harry’s children, being able to connect with their cousins – who are likely to be one of the very few other children who will have shared experiences of being a famous royal child – could be cathartic and reaffirming.
“After all, regardless of your experience, no one wants their children to be so protected that they feel like an island and have no sense of reality!”
