Prince William & Harry’s nanny had bizarre rules which ‘banned them from having everyday items all kids love’
PRINCE William and Prince Harry’s nanny banned them from having comfort blankets and wearing trainers, a royal author has claimed.
Shortly after Princess Diana had given birth to William, Prince Charles felt his wife “needed a nanny” and employed Barbara Barnes to help.
Barbara, aged 42 at the time, was the daughter of a Norfolk forestry worker, and had been recommended by Princess Margaret’s lady-in-waiting, Anne Glenconner.
Unlike Kate Middleton and Prince William’s Norland-trained nanny, Maria Borrallo, Barbara did not wear a nanny hat or uniform.
According to Nanny Barnes was strict with both Kensington Palace staff and the young princes.
He wrote: “Barnes was equally firm with the children, not allowing them comfort blankets and refusing them shoes until they had learned to walk properly.
“When they did get their first footwear, Nanny insisted on classic Start-Rites with button straps that were shaped to the boys’ feet. Trainers were banned.”
Robert reveals that royal author Ingrid Seward was told by a member of the Kensington Palace staff that Barbara guarded the nursery floor “like the Vatican.”
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Prince William and Prince Harry would wake up at dawn, Robert claimed, so Nanny Barnes would “bring them into her bed most mornings to romp and play together, before giving them their breakfast and passing them on to their parents when they woke.”
She taught William and Harry how to walk, talk, read, and chose their clothes and shoes.
The nanny became “something of a surrogate mother” to William in particular, and would take them on holidays to Scotland and the Scilly Isles, where she would set an action-packed agenda.
Robert claims that Diana started to “cold-shoulder” Barbara - and the nanny ended up mysteriously disappearing from the boys’ lives.
In Robert’s biography, Highgrove housekeeper Wendy Berry was quoted saying that “one weekend she [Nanny Barnes] wasn’t there any more.”
While Diana ceased any contact with Nanny Barnes, she was on William's wedding guest list when he tied the knot with Kate 25 years later.
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William and Harry later had Alexandra 'Tiggy' Pettifer as a nanny, and she looked after them from 1993 to 1999, following Diana's death in 1997.
She had a controversial stint as a nanny, and often made headlines where tension between her and Princess Diana was apparent, with Tiggy once referring to Harry and William as 'my babies'.
The princes' adoration of Tiggy has often saved her reputation, and they remain close to this day, with Harry introducing Tiggy to Meghan during a trip to Cardiff.
His ex-nanny lives 30 miles away on the sprawling Glanusk Estate, which is owned by her wealthy family.
Harry is godfather to her son Fred.
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