Today marks Princess Charlotte of Cambridge’s third birthday, just nine days after younger brother Prince Louis joined the family. Typically the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge release a photo to commemorate the milestone, but they declined to this year. If I had to guess I would say that they’re planning to release a photo of all three children at some point this spring, and between that, the public seeing Charlotte last week and her expected presence at Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s wedding later this month, she’s getting enough exposure.
And while I like order as much as the next, I do see some sense in breaking up this particular tradition given how close Charlotte’s and Louis’s birthdays are to one another. The Prince and Princess of Wales didn’t release photos of William and Harry each birthday, so it’s worth keeping that in mind, too.
It’s safe to say that Charlotte’s birthday has still been a bit of an occasion, though. On Monday none other than the Queen showed up at Kensington Palace, having helicoptered in from Sandringham to see her new great-grandson and, no doubt, wish Charlotte a happy birthday.
She was seen holding freshly-picked flowers which many assumed were for Kate, but I’m not so sure – we all know Charlotte loves a good bouquet.
If a visit from HM wasn’t enough, Westminster Abbey rang its bells specifically to mark the little Princess’s birthday.
UPDATE: It’s now been reported that the Prince of Wales visited Kensington Palace on Wednesday, having arrived back from Scotland with the Duchess of Cornwall. Remember when I said last week that we should err on the side of assuming there was a friendly reason for his delay in meeting Prince Louis? Well, here it is – the delay was so that he could arrive on Charlotte’s birthday. According to report, he visited with the Cambridges and met the new baby during school hours, and then was there for the birthday party that commenced once she got home from school. Crisis averted. (Ok, update over).
We don’t see Charlotte – or Prince George, for that matter – with any regularity, but there are a few occasions this year that we can count on. In addition to the May 19 wedding, we will likely see her at Trooping the Colour in June and Louis’s christening, which will likely happen late spring or early summer. Beyond that, it’s also possible we’ll see her in October at Princess Eugenie’s wedding and there’s usually at least a glimpse around Christmas between the Queen’s luncheon and a card.
In the meantime, people are very up in arms about a new New York Times article focused on Harry and Meghan and the fractured relationship between the Royal Family and the tabloid media. I haven’t decided yet whether I’ll cover this specifically – it’s not really new, after all – but it’s worth a read if you haven’t yet.