Prince William and Princess Kate’s second child, Princess Charlotte, turned 10 on Friday, and the brand new birthday portrait the royal family released is so adorable.
In many ways, the portrait broke some royal traditions: typically, the Princess of Wales uses a more professional camera to take the pictures of her kids, but this time around she used her iPhone.
As with Prince Louis’ portrait, the family also decided to post the image directly to their social media, rather than under embargo to press the day before, which they had done every year until 2024.
However, there’s another change that comes with this portrait that feels even more symbolic of the direction that the British royal family is taking with their public image.
The new portrait of Princess Charlotte, and to a slightly lesser extent the one of Prince Louis from last month, is by far the most casual royal portrait to date, with a truly candid ‘family-photo’ feel.
Through an informal look at a mother and daughter on a hike in Cumbria, Prince William’s wife is showcasing just how close and in-sync she is with her daughter.
It feels as if we’re getting a glimpse into what the modern royal family’s life truly looks like, especially with Princess Kate appearing to be one of the most hands-on royal mothers in history.
Prince Louis’ birthday portrait
On 23 April, the younger brother of Prince George turned seven, and showed off his beaming gap-toothed smile in the incredibly cute birthday portrait, which also broke a royal tradition.
Prince William and Princess Kate’s youngest child was photographed sitting on a log in a bluebell wood, dressed up in jeans, a white checked collared shirt and a dark olive jumper – an outfit that wouldn’t look too out of place in his stylish mother’s wardrobe.
The major change, however, was that the mother-of-three did not take the picture herself, for the first time since took the first official portraits of Princess Charlotte back in 2015. In fact, the picture was taken by photographer Josh Shinner, earlier in the month.
This isn’t the first time that this tradition has been broken: for Prince George’s 10th birthday in 2023, the photographer Millie Pilkington was enlisted to take the picture.
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