Prince William and his wife Kate released a picture of their daughter Charlotte to coincide with the princess’ ninth birthday on Thursday, CNN reports.
The image, taken in the last few days by her mother, the Princess of Wales, shows Charlotte, the couple’s second child, smiling happily in the garden of their Windsor home. A message on the couple’s X account said:
Happy 9th Birthday, Princess Charlotte! Thank you for all of the kind messages today.
It has become a tradition at Kensington Palace to release photos taken by Kate, a keen amateur photographer, to mark birthdays and other family events.
This year, however, a photograph released for Mother’s Day in March was withdrawn by a number of news organisations, because it had been edited, for which Kate later apologised.
It came shortly before the princess revealed she was undergoing preventative chemotherapy after tests following a major abdominal operation she underwent in January revealed the presence of cancer.
Heir to the throne William resumed official duties last month, but Kate will only return to the public spotlight when her doctors say she is healthy enough to do so. King Charles returned to public events this week for the first time since being diagnosed with cancer in February.
