Kate Middleton and Prince William are slowly but subtly making their own royal rules. On April 23, the Prince and Princess of Wales shared a new portrait of their son Prince Louis on Instagram to commemorate his 6th birthday, and broke tradition in the process.
The new photo shows Louis rolling around on a picnic blanket in the grass and giving a big smile at the camera. “Happy 6th Birthday, Prince Louis! Thank you for all the kind wishes today,” his parents captioned the post.
Since 2019, a new photo of Louis has been released every year on his birthday. Like most years, Middleton photographed the portrait. However, the couple broke tradition by posting the photo much later in the day than usual and not sharing it with publications first under embargo.
However, some royal followers weren’t sure whether to expect a portrait at all this year, considering the family’s recent request for privacy after Middleton shared her cancer diagnosis in March. She is currently in the early stages of preventative chemotherapy treatment, and the date of her return to royal duties remains uncertain.
According to People, William and Middleton eventually decided to keep up their tradition to “thank well-wishers,” who had reached out to them on their son’s birthday.
As reported by the outlet, the photo was taken only in the last few days and has not been edited. This follows a controversy in March, when media outlets declined to publish a Mother’s Day photo of Middleton, Louis, and his siblings, 10-year-old Prince George and 8-year-old Princess Charlotte, due to apparent manipulation. The Associated Press retracted the photo after learning of the edits.
Middleton took responsibility for the doctored image on the Prince and Princess of Wales’ X (formerly Twitter) account. “Like many amateur photographers, I do occasionally experiment with editing,” she said. “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. C.”
