Kate Middleton news: Why the Princess of Wales did not take Prince Louis’ seventh birthday portrait

Catherine, Princess of Wales has cultivated a tradition of taking photos of her family especially on her children’s birthdays.

So it was a surprise when it was revealed that for the occasion of Prince Louis‘ seventh birthday this week, she did not pick up the camera.

Watch the video above

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Instead, the shot of Prince Louis sitting in a garden with a toothless smile was taken by photographer Josh Shinner.

In the photo, little Louis is seen wearing a khaki jumper over a white check shirt, paired with blue jeans instead of his usual shorts, and looking very grown up.

This marks only the second time the family have released a professional photo for Prince Louis’s birthday.

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The other occasion was in 2023, when William and Kate chose a shot by Millie Pilkington, featuring Louis’ mum pushing him around their Windsor backyard in a wheelbarrow.

Royal experts and hosts of HELLO!’ Magazine’s A Right Royal Podcast Andrea Caamano and Emmy Griffiths, as well as the outlet’s Royal Editor Emily Nash, discussed the sudden change in photographer.

“We’ve come to expect that from her, haven’t we, over the years, because she does it really well. She often really gets the best out of the kids. I think they’re relaxed with her. But you know, occasionally, she has gone for people outside the family, as we know in recent years,” Nash shared.

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“So Josh Shinner, who took this one, for example, he did the family’s 2023 Christmas card, the black and white portrait of them with the studio background in the past. Millie Pilkington has taken family portraits. Chris Jackson, friend of the podcast, certainly took some of Prince George when he was younger. So it’s not unheard for her to look outside and look elsewhere.”

The hosts noted that there has also been a change in the release of official photos, as they would previously be shared the day before events, while now they are released at undetermined times of the day.

Nash shared, “Look I don’t know if there’s an obvious trigger. We could think about the Mother’s Day photograph of last year and the sort of drama that surrounded that.

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But she believes the changes are due to “William and Kate wanting to share things more directly, doing it on their own terms. And as we’ve seen with everything they do this is really about them doing things the way they want to without worrying too much about precedent or tradition.

“This is how they want to operate and they have this social media machine. They are able to put out images and share them directly with the audience that they want to reach.”

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