A stunning new portrait of Princess Charlotte, taken by Kate, the Princess of Wales, has been shared in honour of her ninth birthday.
The only daughter of the Prince and Princess of Wales is seen beaming at her mother while leaning against a wall of flowers in the picture, which was shared on X by Kensington Palace on Thursday morning, UK time.
“Happy 9th Birthday, Princess Charlotte! Thank you for all of the kind messages today,” the caption read.
It’s understood the sweet photo was taken in Windsor, where the family lives.
The new snap comes just over a week after the Palace shared a new picture of Prince Louis, also taken by Kate, to mark his sixth birthday celebrations.
Both Louis and Charlotte last appeared in a picture released on Mother’s Day in the UK which sparked controversy after it was revealed to have been “manipulated” by the “source”.
The world’s largest picture agencies took the extraordinary step of issuing “kill notices” on the image of Kate, surrounded by her three children, after several inconsistencies were noticed.
The Princess of Wales addressed the furore within hours, releasing a statement taking ownership for the mistake.
“I wanted to express my apologies for any confusion the family photograph we shared yesterday caused. I hope everyone celebrating had a very happy Mother’s Day,” she wrote on X.
It’s been a challenging start to the year for the Wales’, with Kate having revealed in March that cancer had been discovered after she underwent surgery for a different condition.
In her emotional video statement, she added that she had kept the diagnosis secret in order to “explain everything” to their three children and give them time to process the news.
Earlier this week, Prince William gave a rare update on his wife while undertaking royal duties in the north east of England.
“Do you mind if I ask how your wife and children are?” he was asked by a member of the public during one of his visits, to which William responded: “All doing well, thank you. Yes, we’re doing well”.