Sweet New Portraits Of Prince George Released To Mark His Sixth Birthday

Happy Birthday, Prince George. On Sunday, Kensington Palace released three new portraits of the Prince of Cambridge just ahead of his sixth birthday on Monday, and wow—he’s grown so much.

The photos were all taken by George’s mom, Duchess Kate. Two were snapped in the gardens of the family’s home at Kensington Palace in London, and feature George smiling and wearing an England soccer jersey.

The third photo was taken on the Cambridge family’s summer holiday on the island of Mustique, and features the little boy in a green polo shirt and shorts. Kate, Prince William, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis flew away to the Caribbean island last week for a two-week break.

Mustique has a no-fly zone, so George will get plenty of opportunity to have a fun birthday full of swimming, snorkelling and other fun pastimes and will be able to do so in privacy. This is the second time the Cambridges have spent his birthday there, having also done so last year.

This is the first time Kate has taken George’s birthday portraits. Her eldest son’s photos were previously taken by professional photographers. The proud mom has taken all three of her children’s birthday portraits this year, having done so in April with Louis and in May with Charlotte. Kate, whose university thesis was on photography, is quite the keen shutterbug and has shown a strong knack for taking gorgeous portraits of her children.

By the looks of the first two photos, it seems Kate and William were encouraging George to cheer the English women’s team on during this summer’s Women’s World Cup. (William is a huge soccer fan.)

It seems like George is becoming quite the big sports fan—just a few weeks ago, he and his siblings took in a charity polo match in which William and their uncle, Prince Harry, competed, and George was seen wielding a polo mallet–with his left hand, so it looks like he’s a southpaw, just like his dad. We also know the young prince is also a big fan of tennis, and has been receiving private lessons from his favourite player, Roger Federer.