The Young British Royals, in Their Own Words

"Everyone needs a hug every now and then, and it so happens that I've been told over and over again that I'm very good at hugs . . . I would choose hugging over shaking hands most of the time."

"I think there is a real art to walkabouts. Everyone teases me in the family that I spend far too long chatting."

"I am going to get plenty of criticism over my lifetime. It's something I don't completely ignore, but it is not something I take completely to heart. I am concentrating very much on my role as a father. I am a new father and I take my duty and my responsibility to my family very seriously . . . When the queen decides that she is going to hand down more responsibilities, I will be the first person to accept them."

"I still miss my mother every day, and it's 20 years after she died. The important thing is to talk about it as a family."

"I can't wait for the day . . . I adore kids. I enjoy everything they bring to the party — they just say what they think."

"If or when I do find a girlfriend, I will do my utmost to ensure that me and her can get to the point where we're actually comfortable with each other before the massive invasion that is inevitably going to happen to her privacy . . . Even if I talk to a girl, that person is then suddenly my wife, and people go knocking on her door. I'm not putting work before the idea of a family, marriage, and all that kind of stuff. To be fair, I haven't had that many opportunities to get out there and meet people. At the moment, my focus is very much on work. But if someone slips into my life, then that's absolutely fantastic."

"I can remember being at Sandringham, for the first time, at Christmas. And I was worried what to give the queen as her Christmas present . . . I thought, 'I'll make her something.' Which could have gone horribly wrong. But I decided to make my granny's recipe of chutney . . . I was slightly worried about it, but I noticed the next day that it was on the table."

"She's a very good footballer. You hold her hand and she kicks it."

"No broken bones so far but they're trying — running around and pushing things and jumping. Please tell me it gets easier!"

"We're completely aware that we are in a very privileged position, and I will spend the rest of my life earning that privilege."

"The queen was really thrilled that it was a little girl, and I think as soon as we came back here to Kensington, she was one of our first visitors here . . . George is only 2-and-a-half and he calls her 'Gan-Gan.' She always leaves a little gift or something in their room when we go and stay and that just shows her love for her family."

"I'm a lot more emotional than I used to be. I never used to really get too wound up or worried about things, but now the smallest little things . . . you well up more. You get affected by the sort of things that happen around the world a lot more, I think, as a father, just because you realize how precious life is and it puts it all in perspective, the idea of not being around to see your children grow up and stuff like that."

"He's got a scooter. He's going super fast on it. It's hard to keep up with him!"

"I really regret not ever talking about it."

"I will always try and bring an element of fun and happiness to everything I do. That probably is subconsciously very much a part of my mother — trying to fill that void. Trying to fill an unbelievable pair of boots. There's this gaping void, not just in mine and William's lives, but there's a huge gaping void in a lot of other people's lives too. She's got a lot of unfinished business."

"Charlotte is very easy, very sweet, but all the fathers say, 'Just you wait — when you get to nine, 10, 11, they go crazy.' I'm looking forward to it; there will be some drama."

"As far as we're concerned, we are a normal family."