Prince William and Kate Middleton have shared a new portrait of Prince George in celebration of his ninth birthday.
On Thursday 21 July, a day before Prince George’s birthday, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge shared the photo of their eldest child to their official Instagram account.
In the photo, the soon-to-be nine year old could be seen wearing a blue polo shirt and smiling widely on what appears to be a beach. The photo was captured by Kate, with Town & Country reporting it was taken while the family was on vacation in the UK earlier this month.
“George is turning nine!” the couple wrote in the caption of the photo alongside a balloon emoji and a cake emoji.
The photo of the young royal has sparked an outpouring of happy birthday messages from royal fans, with one person writing: “Happy birthday little prince!” while another said: “He’s looking so much like his daddy these days! Happy birthday George!”
This is not the first time that the duchess, an amateur photographer, has shared a portrait she’s taken in celebration of George’s birthday. She previously captured a photo of her eldest son for his eighth birthday.
In that photo, released last year, Prince George could be seen wearing a blue and orange striped polo shirt and sitting on top of a car. His seventh birthday portrait saw him grinning outside while dressed in a camouflage T-shirt.
The duchess also showed off her photography skills earlier this month when she photographed the Duchess of Cornwall for the cover of Country Life magazine’s 125thanniversary edition.
While fans were pleased to see a new photo of Prince George in honour of his birthday, it comes after a number of recent public appearances from the couple’s eldest son. Earlier this month, George joined his parents at Wimbledon and also attended events during the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebration in June. He made an appearance on the Buckingham Palace balcony alongside his family, including his two siblings, Princess Charlotte, seven, and Prince Louis, four.
