When Prince William and Prince Harry were young, their mother, Princess Diana, took them to McDonald's, a symbolic and relatable moment.

Princess Diana seems to want her three children to have as normal a upbringing as possible during their childhood, when the eyes of the world are on her. Normal, but not too normal.

Tom Quinn explores Kate's parenting style in his new book, "Gilded Youth" (opens in new tab), where he writes that she wants to be involved in her children's day-to-day lives, but that she also wants them (Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis) to have "the luxury and privilege of a royal upbringing" She also writes that she is happy for them to have the "luxuries and privileges of a royal upbringing.

"Unlike Princess Diana, Kate makes no effort to raise her children steadily because she does not want them to have the kind of "normal" childhood that Princess Diana wanted for William and Harry," Quinn says.

According to Quinn, Kate feels that Diana's modern parenting style causes problems "especially for Harry" and adds to his "frustration with the royal role."

The book also notes that "Diana enjoyed slumming it and was in many ways a lower-class person. Kate wants to escape her middle-class childhood. She hates hamburgers and potato chips, she would never think of taking her children to McDonald's, and she is unwavering when the great burden of traditional royal pursuits falls on them."[11

And for William and Harry, the McDonald's visit was not a one-off: Paul Burrell, Princess Diana's butler, recalled that the princes ate Big Macs and French fries every Saturday, slumped in front of trashy TV shows. Also, according to a chef in the kitchen at Kensington Palace, the princes regularly sought out fast food, despite the presence of a top-notch team of chefs.

"One day a princess came into the kitchen and said, 'Cancel my sons' lunch. I'm taking the kids out. I remember saying, 'I'm sorry. And I said, 'I can do hamburgers. I said, 'I can do burgers. And she said, 'No, what they want are toys.'" [The boys loved McDonald's and would go there for pizza and potato skins. They were royal princes, but they had the taste of children." [The three would go to McDonald's for a burger and fries and then come back to watch "Blind Date." All three squatted on a giant stuffed hippopotamus that Diana had in her living room."