Prince William recently went on a tour to Africa...
While he was there he said that, though he was “delighted” to be visiting Namibia for the first time, he was sorry his wife Catherine couldn’t join him. He then said that Kate was “immensely jealous” of this trip, and went on to explain why. Turns out, it wasn’t because of the incredible people he might meet, or the amazing things he might see. Nup. Instead, he said, Kate was, “Particularly [jealous] because I’m looking forward to a few good, uninterrupted nights’ sleep this week away from my wonderful children.” Oh Kate, we so hear you. As the mother of three kidlings (Prince George is five, Princess Charlotte, 3, while little Prince Louis was only born in April), sleep is probably up there with her most coveted items. It’s more important than anything, really. While she might long for some time to herself, or the chance to shower uninterrupted, the thing that new mums prize above all else, really, is sleep. And when you’re in the trenches, it’s so easy to be jealous when your partner gets the opportunity to get away for a few days so they can lap up hour upon hour of the stuff. I can so relate. Not to the whole, ‘my husband being royalty and visiting Africa’ thing, but to the jealousy Kate feels when her hubby travels for work. While my babies aren’t as little as Kate’s anymore (my youngest is four), I still don’t get to bask in the joy of uninterrupted nights’ sleep. Sure, my nights are a million times better than those early days, where I was up and down like a jack-in-the-box, feeding and burping and changing (and struggling with the inability to then fall back asleep), but I can’t guarantee I’ll sleep undisturbed. Which is why the idea of spending a few nights ALONE in a hotel seems so appealing. Oh, the things I would do in a hotel on my own… Wait, that sounded dirty. Trust me, my fantasies certainly involve a bed, but what happens in that bed is totally clean. In fact, part of my fantasy involves cleanliness. That’s because I dream of luxuriating in a long, hot bubble bath, and then being wrapped in a fluffy white bathrobe while lying on a crisp, fresh bed. I would then perhaps frolic around the room a little, so enchanted would I be in all that aloneness and uninterrupted silence. (Ah, the serenity. Gotta love the serenity). I’d pay so much attention to the lack of requests from my kids, or their whining, or fighting, I’d slather myself in it. Then, I’d probably crawl under those stiff, white sheets and stuff my face with an overflowing bowl of Doritos. Because I could. My husband’s actually on a work trip as I write this. And, for his first night away, he went to dinner, then collapsed into bed when he got back to his room. He didn’t frolic, or luxuriate in a hot bath, or secretly scoff Doritos or anything! Talk about boring. It’s like he wants me to seethe about the wasted opportunity that is him having a hotel room to himself!! But at least, he admits, he enjoyed his first night of uninterrupted sleep. Listen, I’m not naïve enough to believe that, should the Duchess want help with baby Louis or her other kids, she can’t have it. And I’ve got no idea how often she gets uninterrupted night’s sleep. But the fact that she’s jealous of Wills for going away – not because of what he gets to do in Namibia, but simply because of the uninterrupted sleep he’s going to get – really says it all.