Look at baby Princess Charlotte in new pics
Hello, Princess Charlotte, don't you look cute in your new baby pictures.
Prince William and Duchess Kate of Cambridge released their first family photos Saturday, four pictures featuring new baby Princess Charlotte, just 2 months old, and big brother Prince George, who turns 2 years old next month.
To stress the point that these are family photos, the pictures were taken by Duchess Kate herself, Kensington Palace said, in mid-May at Anmer Hall, the family's country retreat in Norfolk on the royal Sandringham estate.
The first of four pictures was released at 4 p.m. ET, via Kensington Palace's Twitter feed and its Facebook and Instagram pages. The other pictures were released an hour later.
The first shows George, his golden blond hair parted on the side, dressed in a white shirt and blue shorts with his customary knee socks, gazing at his baby sister in his arms. She's dressed in a white onesie and sweater.
The other three pictures showed George kissing his sister, smiling with delight, and looking remarkably like his father at the same age. The baby looked happy and alert.
George, according to the bloggers who track royal fashion, is wearing a shorts-and-shirt set from British children's retailer Rachel Riley, still available for $159 — although likely not for long.
Charlotte is wearing a knit outfit by the Spanish label Irulea, which was part of a set given to her by George's Spanish nanny's mother.
The pictures are expected to be a sensation around the world, but especially in Britain, where the Cambridge-loving public and media are ever eager to feast on rare official photos of the royal babies.
It may be another four weeks before Charlotte is seen in public again, when she's christened Charlotte Elizabeth Diana on July 5 at St. Mary Magdalene Church near Anmer Hall, where Will's late mother, Princess Diana, was herself christened.
Although that ceremony will be private, as royal christenings usually are, official photos will be taken, the palace said.
To stress the new royal savvy about social media, the family photos released Saturday were sent out to the world via Twitter first, as a thank-you, the palace said, to all the new followers of its Twitter feed.
The palace publicly signaled the pictures were coming in a tweet early Saturday, followed by more tweets with pictures of the piles of presents baby Charlotte has received from fans since her birth.
Royal reporters, bloggers and fans immediately jumped on the signal tweet, using it to spread the news and to direct readers to media websites Saturday night when the pictures were to be published.
As with George, Charlotte's christening photos in July will likely include a large, after-ceremony four-generation family portrait featuring Queen Elizabeth II and her son, the baby's grandfather, Prince Charles, and her maternal family, the Middletons.
Charlotte's christening is taking place slightly sooner after birth than with George, and in a different venue, probably because the family is now living full-time at Anmer Hall, a few hours north of London.
George was christened three months after his birth in the Chapel Royal at St. James' Palace in London.
When George was born in July 2013, the first photos of the family, with Lupo the dog, were taken by Kate's father, Michael Middleton, in the backyard of the Middleton estate in Bucklebury, 50 miles outside London, where Will and Kate stayed initially after the birth.
Since then, official photos of George have been few and far between, especially inside the U.K. Australians and New Zealanders got to see more of George when he accompanied his parents on a three-week Down Under tour in April 2014.
When George was taken to visit his mother and new sister at St. Mary's Hospital in London on May 2, it was the first time many Brits had seen him in public since he himself was born at the same hospital.
