A (slightly belated) happy birthday to you, Prince George! The young royal, who celebrated his sixth birthday on Monday, July 22, was featured in a series of birthday portraits that showed off his spirited personality. The pictures were not taken by a royal photographer, but by his mom, Kate Middleton, Duchess of Cambridge.
In one image, Prince George is touting a big smile, showing off his newly-lost bottom teeth.
In another, he is laying back in the grass, caught in the middle of a belly laugh. In both photos, he is wearing England’s official soccer shirt.
In the third image, Prince George is wearing a dark green polo shirt and blue and white striped shorts. This image was taken on the private Caribbean island of Mustique, where the royal family is currently on vacation.
The images were shared on the family’s official Instagram account, @kensingtonroyal. They captioned the images with a birthday message, noting, “The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are very pleased to share new photographs of Prince George to mark his Royal Highness’s sixth birthday.”
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle Wish Prince George a Happy Birthday
Prince George received many well-wishes throughout the day, including a special happy birthday message from his Aunt and Uncle, Duchess Meghan Markle and Prince Harry. They wrote, “Happy birthday! Wishing you a very special day and lots of love!” in a comment under one of the portraits posted to Instagram.
Their warm-wishes to the young prince did not go over well, as many commenters responded that it was “disrespectful” that the comment did not refer to the royal as “Prince George” or “His Royal Highness.” These comments don’t seem to take into account that Meghan and Harry are, you know, close family, who do not necessarily refer to their nephew by his official title all the time.
The official Twitter account for The England football team also sent a special birthday message, saying, “Great choice of shirt! Have a brilliant birthday, Prince George!”
Prince George is currently in Mustique with the rest of his family where they are enjoying a summer holiday. Sounds like the perfect way to celebrate a sixth birthday!