The Royal Nanny: Everything You Wanted to Know
— -- Kate Middleton and Prince William have one thing they don't need to worry about now that their new baby girl has arrived: a nanny.
Maria Borrallo, the same nanny who takes care of Prince George, who will turn 2 in July, will also take care of the new royal baby.
"William and Kate are not intending to hire a new nanny for their new baby," royal commentator Victoria Murphy told ABC News recently. "Instead, they're going to have Maria take care of the two of them. Obviously Kate's going to be at home. She's going to be a hands-on mom. She feels that she wants to spend those early years with her baby and that she doesn't need another nanny. That doesn't rule out the possibility that in the long-term future they might choose another nanny--for their second baby. But for now they've very happy with Maria. And Kate's very keen to be very hands on."
Borrallo, a native of Spain who came recommended to Kate and William, has become another member of the family.
"We know that she has become very close to Kate since she started working with her," Murphy said. "They spent a lot of time together. Other than his parents, Prince George's nanny is the person who knows him best in the whole world and who's closest to him. And she has a lovely bond with George."
Borrallo is also highly skilled at her job, having trained at the esteemed Norland College in Bath, 100 miles west of London. Largely considered the Harvard for English nannies, Norland is affectionately known as the Mary Poppins school, Murphy said, "because the nannies are so perfect."
"The nannies are taught everything from defensive driving to security issues to how to care for a future king or queen," Murphy explained. "So she just really knows everything that you could possibly need to know about bringing up a child."
Norland nannies train for three years before receiving their diploma.
"Good Morning America" correspondent Amy Robach went inside the famous school before George's birth and learned that the nannies in training could only wear minimal makeup with their hair up, one pair of stud earrings and flat lace-up shoes. Their distinctive Edwardian brown uniform, complete with bow tie, felt hat and white gloves, has barely been updated since the college's conception in 1892.
Nannies are taught to push the large Silver Cross prams favored by the royals and fold a cloth nappy or diaper, using cotton wool instead of wipes to clean a baby's bottom.
They also learn everything from taekwondo to ward off would-be kidnappers to evasive driving maneuvers to avert the prying eyes of the paparazzi.
Most importantly, they learn to live by the Norland motto, "love never faileth."
"It isn't about the strict discipline and nanny knows best," Liz Hunt, the college's principal told ABC News in 2013. "What we look for, in particular, is someone who is warm, caring, fun-loving; somebody who will enable the child to grow and to be empowered."
