Princess Charlotte posed for a portrait taking by her mother Princess Kate Middleton on Thursday, May 2 to celebrate her 9th birthday.
The new picture posted on social media to Kate and Prince William’s Social media pages was captioned: “Happy 9th Birthday, Princess Charlotte! Thank you for all of the kind messages today.”
The practice of posting birthday snaps of the young royals has become a tradition throughout the years, including 2023 when Charlotte was photographed from above.
However, today the tradition was broken yet again by Kate and William after they were late to share a snap of Prince Louis last week rather than at midnight on his birthday as is customary with new royal portraits.
Prince Louis, was also all smiles as he posed for a portrait for his 6th birthday taken by Kate. The release of the photo, which had royal fans breathe a sigh of relief after it broke tradition because it wasn’t released in the early hours of his big day, was captioned: “Happy 6th Birthday, Prince Louis! 🎂.”
His parents added: “Thank you for all the kind wishes today.”
The birthday portrait tradition marks a much-needed special occasion amid the 42-year-old Kate’s cancer battle. After the Princess of Wales announced her cancer diagnosis in March following a planned abdominal surgery, she and William, 41, had been “processing” the information before telling their children the news. In addition to Charlotte and Louis, the couple share Prince George, 10.
Earlier this month, Prince Louis also posed for a portrait for his 6th birthday. The release of the photo broke tradition because it wasn’t released in the early hours of his big day.
“Happy 6th Birthday, Prince Louis! 🎂,” Prince William and Princess Kate wrote via Instagram at the time. “Thank you for all the kind wishes today.
There have been many changes to the usual royal traditions since the Princess of Wales announced her cancer diagnosis in March following a planned abdominal surgery. She and William, 41, had been “processing” the information before telling their children the news. In addition to Charlotte and Louis, the couple share Prince George, 10.
“They wanted to wait to tell the world the news until their children were off school for the Easter break so they could have time to process the news before the whole world was talking about [it],” a source exclusively told Us Weekly at the time.
In her video statement about the news, Kate called the diagnosis a “huge shock.”
“As you can imagine, this has taken time. It has taken me time to recover from major surgery in order to start my treatment,” she said. “But, most importantly, it has taken us time to explain everything to George, Charlotte and Louis in a way that is appropriate for them, and to reassure them that I am going to be OK.”
Meanwhile, Buckingham Palace confirmed in February that King Charles III was diagnosed with an undisclosed form of cancer.
A source told Us earlier this month that the ordeal has been “stressful” on the Duke of Cambridge, adding, “William feels a profound sense of duty to uphold the monarchy’s stability and inspire confidence in the public that everything will be OK. It’s an immense responsibility.”
