Prince George is growing up quickly — and not just in stature. The young royal is already nearly level with his 5ft 9in mother, the Princess of Wales.
His milestone birthday yesterday, when he turned 13, was celebrated in the now-familiar royal fashion: with the release of a new portrait.
The photograph, taken at Kensington Palace after last month’s Trooping the Colour, captures George looking strikingly at ease in front of the camera.
A video shared later on social media offered a more informal glimpse of his life away from public duties, showing moments from a family holiday in Cornwall earlier this year. In it, the future monarch beams behind a pair of stylish sunglasses, plays cricket on the beach, cuddles the family dog and clambers barefoot over rocks while his younger brother follows close behind.
Now officially a teenager, George appears to have inherited both his parents’ height and polished looks as he prepares to begin a new chapter at Eton College this autumn.
The move will mark the first time since 2019 that he has not attended school alongside at least one of his siblings — first at Thomas’s Battersea with Princess Charlotte, and later at Lambrook in Berkshire with both Charlotte and Prince Louis.
For the famously close Wales family, it is a significant step, and for the prince who could one day reign as King George VII, it represents a major rite of passage.
The portrait of a relaxed George released for his 13th birthday
But the Prince and Princess of Wales are devoted, hands-on parents who have already been carefully helping their eldest son to prepare and adjust.
Over the last couple of years, George has started boarding at his present school several nights a week and has a strong group of similarly sporty friends, some of whom are expected to join him at £64,000-a-year Eton.
It is also a stone’s throw from the family’s ‘forever home’,
Forest Lodge at Windsor, and he will be allowed regular ‘exeat’ weekends home, as well as holidays. He is said to be nervous but excited at the prospect.
At the same time, William and Kate are continuing to guide George along a controlled path to public life.
Both are acutely aware of the pitfalls of the past.
While acknowledging that every generation has a different approach to official duties, they are adamant that their children will not be rushed, while mainly enjoying as normal a life as possible, albeit very privileged.
When George has undertaken more forward-facing engagements of late, he has displayed an endearing mixture of eagerness, interest and the perfectly natural awkwardness any youngster might have when out with his parents and shaking hands with a group of adults.
At Wimbledon this month, he smiled and shook hands at the right times, but also looked down shyly, scuffed his shoes and fiddled with his cuffs, before exchanging giggles with his sister when they donned large straw hats in the Royal Box.
Exactly as any other boy of his age might do.
A video released by Kensington Palace shows George playing beach cricket and climbing rocks in Cornwall
He was charming when meeting war veterans at Buckingham Palace during VE Day commemorations last year, listening with bated breath at their stories and asking all the right questions.
And it looked like he was genuinely having fun with his father when he was taken along to serve Christmas dinner at The Passage centre for the homeless in central London in December.
Indeed, William has been particularly keen that his son inherit his determination to help the lost and marginalised in society, having openly talked about the issue of rough sleeping with his children from an early age.
The closeness of their bond can be seen in another light on the terraces at William’s beloved Aston Villa, when cheering and hugging at their team’s success.
It is genuinely heart-warming to see how the Prince of Wales and his long-term friends, such as Ed van Cutsem, now bring their own children to the club’s games.
George is also said to hugely look up to his mother, who is described to me as the ‘heart and soul’ of the family.
They share the same sportiness and quietly competitive nature –George, I am told, is a talented triathlete (and pretty handy with a tennis racquet too) – and has inherited both her love of the outdoors and artistic talent. He is also, I am told, ‘obsessed’ by flying. Something of a family trait.
George as a one-year-old on an engagement with his parents
A three-year-old George accompanied his parents on a visit to Canada
The prince on his first day at school at Thomas’s Battersea in 2017
There are parental concerns, naturally, that he will be growing up in a digital age (the couple have refused to allow their children to have mobile phones, although admit that will change with their eldest at senior school).
The couple’s biggest worry now is not the paparazzi but an entire generation armed with camera phones, instantly uploading snaps and videos for ‘clout and likes’. It will be interesting to see how they navigate this challenge given how determined they have always been to ringfence their family from the moment George and his siblings were born.
One source tells me of an incident in the early summer of 2015 that was something of a tipping point for Kate in particular.
‘She was out on the beach [in Norfolk] with George, who was just two, when it became clear they were being stalked by two photographers. She had to grab him and go, and was deeply upset about the whole thing.
‘It wasn’t the first time this had happened but she was really unhappy and very, very worried.
Prince William with George and Charlotte at the Wimbeldon men’s final this year
The video released to mark his 13th birthday also shows George enjoying a boat trip
‘There was a lot of thinking along the lines of ‘what is this role that William and I have in public life going to do for him?’ She was desperate for a sense of normalcy for her family.
‘From that moment on she and the prince worked hard to protect their family life.’
Another source adds that they ‘have always, always put their family first’, even if it risked public criticism in terms of public duties and visibility, and George’s growing confidence in public is, happily, the end result.
‘William and Catherine have ripped up the royal rule book and rewritten it themselves,’ they say.
‘It’s prompted debate at times, I know, but I would argue when you see those children, who are such a credit to their parents, then you can’t disagree with their approach.’
It seems a lifetime ago that the world’s media camped outside the Lindo Wing at St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington for what was dubbed The Great Kate Wait, desperate to see her first born.
That 8lb 6oz baby is now a teenager, on the verge of becoming a young man. And his family couldn’t be prouder.
