When did this happen? Prince George is nearly as tall as the Queen!
New photos released by the Palace show that young Prince George, the eldest child of future king Prince William and his wife Duchess Kate, has shot up like the proverbial rocket in the last 12 months.
Keep calm and bake on!
Curious George is no longer a tiny and shy preschooler with cheeks we urge to squeeze.
He is now a fully fledged big boy, looking confident and also perhaps settling into his royal role with less reluctance.
Photos shared over the weekend show a much taller George with his great-grandmother — aka the Queen — his grandpa Prince Charles and his dad Prince William. The awesome royal foursome are stirring up some charitable Christmas puddings together and it’s the most relaxed and wholesome capture we’ve ever seen from this bunch.
There are lots of smiles and even a bit of chortling from Prince Charles and Will. The Queen is looking very much unbothered by recent royal dramas.
This pudding-stirring follows a similarly wholesome documentary released last week. That program had William and Kate sharing the small screen with British baking darling Mary Berry, again whipping up lots of sweet treats. Again all smiles and family vibes.
It’s all clearly part of a ‘keep calm and bake on’ PR push which focuses on the fairly uncontroversial Cambridge fam.
With the unapologetic Prince Andrew making tawdry headlines across the globe, and Meghan and Harry the target of constant criticism, it’s obviously been decided that Kate, Will and kids should save the day and restore some decorum to the royal name.
It’s a real possibility that we’ll see at least one of the Cambridge kids on Christmas Day this year, when the family attend the traditional church service at Sandringham.
Fingers. Crossed!
At the moment the harangued Meghan and Harry have disappeared to Canada with baby Archie. They are spending Christmas with Meg’s besties and mum. The Queen’s hubby, 98-year-old Prince Philip, is in hospital recovering from a fall and battling the flu. And her son Prince Andrew is (possibly) hiding from the FBI in a dungeon somewhere.
Some cheery royal news is just what we all needed.
Magic puddings
Now let’s get back to those puddings! The caption accompanying the pudding-stir photos explained exactly what was going on.
“The four generations of the Royal Family are pictured here preparing special Christmas puddings — with the four representing a cross-section of those supported by the Legion, from the children of service personnel, to Second World War veterans,” a Kensington Palace rep wrote.
“The puddings will become the centrepieces of 2020’s get togethers, and form part of 99 puddings distributed across the charity’s network in the UK and the Commonwealth – also marking The Royal British Legion’s 99th year.”
It’s all testament to the healing powers of the pud.
Kate’s big news
Some other big royal news is being tipped to land very soon.
“Kate, Duchess of Cambridge, and Prince William are set to make a dramatic announcement over the Christmas period, according to a briefing from Kensington Palace,” Express UK reports.
On his podcast Heirpod, royal expert Omid Scobie said “next year is going to be busy for the Cambridges. Expect royal announcements over the holidays, which I think is a slight break away from tradition.”
“We will be hearing about a new initiative from Prince William and some other news as well,” Omid said.
“Next year is a big one for Kate. She is going to be really focused on her early years development. That is something she has been involved in for a long time now.”
Perhaps a Kate preschool? A nature-themed Kate educational initiative? Or a Kate pregnancy? Perhaps all of the above? It’s hard to know.
What we do know is that we’ll keep you in the loop when the the palace spills the beans.