I spend too much time these days thinking about male athletes and female athletes and gender inequality in sports and how boys should be flat-out encouraged to have female role models. Few things give me more pleasure than reading stories about little boys who worship Serena Williams or Megan Rapinoe or Simone Biles. Those stories always make me feel like *some* parents are doing their jobs and not indoctrinating their kids with gender stereotypes early on, like “boys can only look up to male athletes.” So… I wonder about this story. Prince William apparently spoke to some people at the Diana Awards, and he told a story about how Prince George insults his little sister, basically, and how William had to tell George that Charlotte could end up being a better athlete than him. Or something.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are doting parents to three young children, and are doing all they can to make sure they lead as normal lives as possible. And on Tuesday afternoon, Prince William gave a rare insight into his family life while chatting to winners of The Diana Award at a tea hosted at Kensington Palace. The dad-of-three spoke to Olivia Hancock, 14, who was given an accolade for her work promoting equality among the sexes in football, and the conversation turned to his own experiences with his oldest children Prince George, six, and Princess Charlotte, four. She said: “So when I was chatting with Prince William he said to me, when he plays football with George and Charlotte, when Charlotte’s in goal George says to her that ‘Charlotte I’m better than you’.”

She said the Duke told his son: “‘George, Charlotte could be as good as you’”, adding: “It’s great to hear that Prince William is saying that to George.” William is also dad to one-year-old son Prince Louis, who will no doubt be joining in the football matches with his older siblings and dad in the near-future too.

[From Hello]

As president of the Football Association, William supports the English national teams, men and women. He was proud of the Lionesses for going so far in the Women’s World Cup this year (the Lionesses lost in the semifinals to Team USA). So… I actually believe that William is supportive of women’s football, and probably vaguely supportive of female athletes. But George is exhibiting learned behavior, in addition to being kind of a d-bag to his little sister. Where did George pick this up? From school or the father who never goes to any of the women’s matches at Wimbledon? I know, I know, I’m reading too much into it. Plus, this is a story William told about himself, and who even knows if any of this really happened.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid.