William and Kate's new documentary sees them spreading Christmas cheer to different charities. Photo / BBC
William and Kate's new documentary sees them spreading Christmas cheer to different charities. Photo / BBC
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have been praised for their "classy" appearance on a new Christmas documentary that revealed intimate details about their family life, including one of Prince Louis's funny first words.
A Berry Royal Christmas aired on the BBC on Monday night and saw Prince William and Kate Middleton partner with celebrity chef Mary Berry to throw a Christmas party for dozens of charity volunteers working over the festive period.
The trio visited four different charities over the hour-long special, including a homeless centre Prince William once visited with his mother Princess Diana.
"It was one of the first places I came to actually. I must have been between eight and 10 … and it had a profound impact on me," he said.
William says he and Kate want to raise their children to help the vulnerable. Photo / Getty
"My mother knew what she was doing with it. She realised that it's very important when you grow up, especially in the life we grew up in, that you realise life happens beyond palace walls and that you see real people struggling with real issues."
For that reason, the Duke said he regularly talked to his two eldest children, Prince George and Princess Charlotte, about homelessness and the need to support society's most vulnerable people.
"On the school run already, bear in mind they're six and four, whenever we see anyone who is sleeping rough on the streets, I talk about it and I point it out and I explain why and they're all very interested," he said.
Kate also revealed an adorable detail about the couple's youngest child, 20-month-old Prince Louis, while chatting with Berry.
Kate revealed that one of Prince Louis' first words was Mary Berry's name after seeing her face on his mum's cookbooks. Photo / Getty
She confessed that one of his first words was "his version of Mary" because the family had one of her cookbooks on their kitchen shelf.
"Right at his height are all my cooking books in the kitchen bookshelf," she said.
"And children are really fascinated by faces, and your face is all over your cooking books and he would say 'That's Mary Berry'.
"So he would definitely recognise you if he saw you today."
The Duchess also revealed Prince William wooed her with food when they first started dating during university, impressing her with dishes "like bolognese".
The family now grows their own vegetables, she said, and while Prince Louis loves beetroots, Princess Charlotte "obviously" likes her Charlotte potatoes.
While Prince George's favourite vegetable remains a mystery, Prince William said the future king was very into football.
He said he told his son he could support "anyone but Chelsea", so that was the team the cheeky prince now cheered for.
The Christmas special has been compared to Harry and Meghan's South Africa tour doco. Photo / Getty
Viewers were quick to compare the documentary to "the other" royal doco that aired earlier this year about the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's royal tour to Southern Africa.
In that ITV special, Prince Harry revealed there was a rift between him and his brother, while Meghan revealed her new royal life was taking a toll.
"Such a wonderful contrast to the other royal 'documentary' we have seen this year," one person wrote on Twitter.
Another wrote: "Our country's in great hands with Wills and Kate. Kind, level headed people".
