Saturday with Vogue Williams: I want the kids to have a life here in Ireland

Vogue Williams in the living room with the Zoe rug from the Kukoon collection.

06.30

I get up between 6.30am and 7am. We’ll go downstairs and have pancakes and eggs. Spenny [husband Spencer Matthews] will bring the dog for a walk. Because I loved cartoons on a Saturday morning, the kids are allowed to have half an hour of cartoons.

09.00

Theodore will always have a football match on a Saturday morning, so he will go one way with Spencer, and Gigi will have to stand on the sidelines with me while Otto does his football.

11.00

We live beside a great park and go there a lot. Gigi loves pottery and there’s a really lovely pottery place nearby so we go there quite a lot too.

13.00

We’ll usually have lunch at home. We’ll all sit and have lunch together — the kids will have sandwiches because they don’t usually have them during the week. The kids will play with their toys for a while and then we’ll be off to find something else to do with them.

14.30

Myself and Spenny will cover each other’s backs so we can both get some time for the gym or a run. We enjoy being out and about. The kids are very active — I can’t wait for the day when we’re all playing tennis as a family. They recently tried padel, which was easier for them to manage.

Vogue Williams and Spencer Matthews at the BAFTA Film Awards 2026 Picture: Ian West/PA

16.00

We have to tag-team a lot because the kids have so many different things on. There might be friends’ parties, we might take them swimming, to the zoo, or the science museum.

I can’t ever get home to Ireland enough. If I’m coming home for a job, I’ll often try to arrange it for a Friday so the kids can come for the weekend. Otto asks to go to Ireland all the time and it makes me so happy — the kids have their cousins and friends in Ireland. I really want them to have a life there.

If I wasn’t in Dublin or London, an ideal Saturday would be spent in Cork. I love the food scene in Cork City and the kids love Fota Wildlife Park. I also love Glengarriff in West Cork... and Kenmare in Kerry.

18.00

Bedtime for Otto and Gigi will start at about 6pm with baths and books. Theodore stays up until about 7.30pm but it’ll really be about 8.15pm by the time he settles down.

20.00

Myself and Spencer tend to have lunch together more often than dinner. One of our favourite spots in London is La Petite Maison. We probably don’t go out as much as we should but, when we are working, it kind of feels like we are out!

We try our best to eat together as a family. It can be very easy to sit at a table and give [the kids] iPads but we really strive not to do that. We try to leave our phones off the table, even when we’re out with friends — you’re not giving people your full attention when you’ve your eye on the phone.

Recent research by Heinz and Barnardos showed many children feel they don’t spend enough meaningful time with the people who matter to them. Mealtimes are a great opportunity to slow down. I think it’s so important for families to spend quality time together. Devices take so much time away that people could be having with family and friends.

21.30

If I’m in Ireland, I’ll hang out with my mum, my aunties, or my sister. In London, my brother or cousin or friends might come over but, really, I prefer seeing people during the day as I’m more of a daytime person.

At the moment, I’m incredibly boring — I’ll be turning off the lights at around 9.30pm. Sometimes Spencer will put in his earpods and watch something while I’m reading beside him. I loved the book London Falling by Patrick Radden Keefe. I read a lot of Marian Keyes — her books are brilliant for getting back into reading if I fall off the reading wagon. Katriona O’Sullivan’s Poor is next on the list.

I sleep very well but I put a lot of work into it. I take magnesium, use an eye mask, earplugs, white noise…

My weakness is beauty products. I love looking to see what my mum or Joanne [McNally] has. I use serum, a moisturiser, and an eye cream. I’m not using any retinols at the moment as I’m pregnant. I’m guided by professor Caitriona Ryan, the queen of dermatology in Ireland — if she told me to put my hand in the fire, I would.

Williams is a longstanding ambassador for the Heinz Barnardos partnership

• Vogue Williams is a longstanding ambassador for the Heinz and Barnardos partnership. Limited-edition packs of ‘Heinz Meanz Mealz’ Beanz are available until the end of September from Dunnes Stores, Tesco, SuperValu, Aldi, and participating convenience stores. Heinz will donate one meal or the cash equivalent to Barnardos Ireland for each pack sold, supporting breakfast clubs nationwide. barnardos.ie