Princess Charlotte Is a Little Lady in New Birthday Photos Taken by Kate Middleton — See All 3!
Happy birthday, Princess Charlotte!
In honor of the royal’s fourth birthday on May 2, proud parents Kate Middleton and Prince William released three new photos of their daughter on Wednesday.
“The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are very pleased to share three new photographs of Princess Charlotte ahead of her fourth birthday tomorrow,” the palace said in a statement.
Photographed by mom Kate in April on the grounds of the family’s Norfolk home, Anmer Hall, and at Kensington Palace, Charlotte — who goes by the nickname Lottie — shows off her playful side.
In one of the photos, Charlotte sits sweetly in the grass with her hands crossed over her blue flowered dress from Trotters with a Peter Pan collar — and adorable retro-style navy canvas shoes. Mom Kate also styled her hair with a matching navy bow.
In the other two snaps, Charlotte is full of energy with her hair pulled back in a ponytail in her tartan-style dress by Amaia — and it has quickly become one of her favorites. The royal also wore it during a recent playdate with big brother Prince George and her cousins.
The photos come just one week after Will and Kate released new photos of Prince Louis for his first birthday.
The little princess’s birthday will be spent at home privately where there will be a family celebration. Her big day comes after a public holiday for May Day in the U.K, so her family and friends will have no trouble getting time off to help the royal family celebrate the little one.
It has been a memorable year for Charlotte. She had a big role in not just one, but two royal weddings. She served as a bridesmaid in Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s nuptials in May and then again for Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank’s wedding in October. And the young royal took charge on the big day.
“She was really sweet,” a royal wedding guest of Meghan and Harry’s wedding told PEOPLE. “There was one girl who wanted to go and she said, ‘No you can’t go yet. We have to wait until we are asked.’ She was really organized!”
Charlotte, who became a big sister last year with the birth of baby brother, Prince Louis, has grown closer to her fellow “live wire” cousins during fun playdates and royal family gatherings.
The royal has also been perfecting her pirouettes and pliés at a dance school in South London, where she has been taking private ballet lessons, PEOPLE has learned.
“My daughter Charlotte loves dancing,” William proudly told attendees at a Commonwealth reception in March.
Charlotte will join her big brother, Prince George, at Thomas’s Battersea in the fall.
Candid portraits have become a tradition for the royal family. For Charlotte’s first birthday, mom Kate got behind the camera to take the sweet pictures, which showed Charlotte playing around the family’s home of Anmer Hall in adorable pink and blue outfits (with matching bows!).
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For her second birthday, Kate took another adorable photo outside of Anmer Hall — this time Charlotte sported a navy bow.
On her third birthday last year, Charlotte shared the spotlight with her new baby brother Louis. Already a protective big sister, Charlotte cradles Louis in her lap and places a sweet kiss on her sleeping baby brother’s head in the sweet shots.
