Charlotte won't be a spare: Kate and William's plan to protect her

Princess Charlotte just turned ten, but her parents, Kate Middleton and Prince William, have already mapped out a clear strategy:  to prevent their daughter from growing up feeling like a secondary figure in the royalty, a "plan B" to the future king, her brother George.

Harry, the Duke of Sussex,  narrated with starkness in his autobiography Spare ("In the Shadow") how being the "second" left him with emotional scars that still accompany him.  He summarized it himself with bitterness: "I was the spare, the backup in case something happened to Willy." His account makes it clear that, from childhood,  his role was marked by the monarchical hierarchy.

The weight of being number two in the monarchy

Harry recounted that even in the most everyday details, he was reminded of his place. While sharing a bedroom with William at Balmoral, his area was "smaller and more miserable." He never asked why; he knew the answer: the heir was William, he was just the "reserve."

That feeling of being an accessory —not the protagonist— seems to have conditioned his life.  That's why Kate and William decided to take measures so that their daughter Charlotte doesn't repeat that story.

According to renowned royal biographer Robert Hardman in People magazine, the Princes of Wales are fully aware of the challenge of being the second in a family structured by the line of succession. Charlotte occupies that sensitive place and, although she is still a child, her parents want to spare her the same pain her uncle experienced.

A royal childhood, but also normal

Queen Elizabeth IIunderstood this tension well. She always had a special affection for those who occupied that uncomfortable second place: her sister Margaret, her son Andrew, and, of course, Harry. She knew that living in the shadow of the throne is not easy.

William learned from that.  As a father, his commitment is not only to prepare the future king George but also to ensure that all his children —George, Charlotte, and Louis— feel equally valued. That equity, although it may sound utopian within an institution as hierarchical as the British monarchy, is one of his main goals.

Charlotte also represents a symbol of change. Thanks to the 2013 Succession to the Crown Act,she was the first woman in the British royal family not to lose her place in the line of succession due to the birth of a male sibling. A progress that, although symbolic, marks a new paradigm.

In the future, she could receive the title of Princess Royal, like her great-aunt Anne. However, that distinction, which only the monarch can grant, is not automatic, and Charlotte could decline it when the time comes.

Preventing the Harry effect

Royal expert Katie Nicholl, in one of the episodes of the Dynasty by Vanity Fair US podcast, was blunt: "No one wants the next generation to suffer what Harry endured."

Kate and William seem to share that vision. According to Nicholl, both are determined to raise their children in an environment as normal as possible, even within the limitations of their public role. A childhood without favoritism, without labels by rank, and with room for individuality.

While the world continues to watch every step of the Windsors, Charlotte has something Harry never had: parents determined to break with old patterns. And that is already a form of protection.