Prince William dishes about his first month as a dad

Calling his newborn royal son “a little bit of a rascal” and “a little fighter,” Prince William recapped his first month of fatherhood in an interview with CNN released Monday.

In his first television interview since the birth of Prince George Alexander Louis last month, William described the intricacies of royal fatherhood in the 21st century, from learning to change a diaper to deciding that he would drive his wife and son home from the hospital rather than having their chauffeur take the wheel.  

“We’ve all grown up differently to other generations [of royals],” he told CNN’s Max Foster. “And I very much feel if I can do it myself: I want to do it myself.”

In excerpts from the interview – which will be broadcast in full on Sept. 15 – William described the ways that fatherhood had already unsettled his views on the world, saying it had been “just a very different emotional experience, something I never thought I would feel myself.… it's only been a short period, but a lot of things affect me differently now."

Of course, the challenges of fatherhood are magnified when the entire world seems to be watching your every move. William, his wife, Kate Middleton, and their son have been the subjects of intense public fascination since Kate became pregnant last year, and when Prince George was born on July 22, London erupted in celebration.

But in the weeks since, the royal couple has largely kept a low profile. After all, as William explained in the CNN interview, they have had their hands full.

“He kind of, he wriggles around quite a lot,” William said. “And he doesn’t want to go to sleep that much, which is a little bit of a problem.”

He also described being given the job of changing the young prince’s first diaper – with his wife and the royal midwives hovering nearby to make sure he was up to the task.

But although he espoused a new and hands-on style of royal fatherhood, William also admitted in the interview that he was eager to return to work as Royal Air Force helicopter pilot after two weeks of paternity leave.

“As a few fathers might know, I’m actually quite looking forward to going back to work [to] get some sleep,” he said.  “I’m just hoping the first few shifts I go back on don’t have any night jobs.”

When asked by Mr. Foster if he was getting up at night with the fussy baby, William said that wasn’t really his job.

“‘A little bit,” he said. “Not as much as Catherine.  But you know, she’s doing a fantastic job [she’s doing] very well.”