Charlotte celebrates her third birthday
Wednesday 2 May 2018 12:41, UK
Philip Whiteside, News Reporter
Princess Charlotte, the fourth in line to the British throne, is celebrating her third birthday today.
It is her first celebrating as the sister of two brothers, after her mother Kate gave birth to Prince Louis on 23 April.
It has been a busy month for celebrations in the household of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, with the couple also marking their seventh wedding anniversary on Sunday.
After hundreds of people congratulated the pair, Kensington Palace tweeted a "thank you" together with a picture of the Cambridges driving through central London in the Prince's Aston Martin Volante on their wedding day, waving to the crowds.
Charlotte was born on 2 May 2015 at 8.34am, in the same wing and hospital as her brother.
She weighed 8lb 3oz, and became the fourth in line to the throne, pushing Prince Harry into fifth.
Her name, Charlotte Elizabeth Diana, was announced on 4 May 2015.
Her older brother George visited her with her father in hospital the day she was born.
It is hoped her parents will release a new set of pictures for her birthday as they have for the birthdays of all their children so far.
But, possibly because Charlotte was seen with her father and brother last week, Kensington Palace tweeted their congratulations accompanied by an old picture.
The Royal Family also congratulated the princess, tweeting: "Wishing HRH Princess Charlotte a very Happy 3rd Birthday!"
Others who sent messages included the British High Commission in India, other high commissions around the world, and the Royal Yacht Britannia.
Many of the photos of Charlotte and her brother have been taken by Kate, who has been celebrated as an accomplished photographer, partly because of the images.
When Charlotte's brother George turned three, he was photographed playing on a swing and with the family dog Lupo in the grounds of their Norfolk home Anmer Hall.
Charlotte goes to Willcocks Nursery School, in Kensington, every day during term time.
It is a short walk or drive from her parents base in Kensington Palace to the nursery, just south of Kensington Gardens.
The most recent set of photos of Charlotte taken by her mother were on the day she started at Willcocks.
It is thought she is not going to nursery on her birthday, however.
Neither of her parents are due to attend royal engagements and they are understood to have planned to privately mark her turning three.
Over the last year, Charlotte has been seen increasingly often in public with her parents.
She was very well behaved when her mother took on the role of looking after the youngest guests at the wedding of her sister Pippa Middleton to hedge fund manager James Matthews.
On that day she was a bridesmaid, and she is expected to repeat the role when her uncle Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in just over two weeks' time.
The princess was thrilled to watch a flypast by Royal Air Force aircraft in her great grandmother's honour at the Trooping the Colour.
She dutifully held hold of a mini bouquet she was handed as she arrived in Berlin during her second royal tour, after shaking hands with a defence attache.
But in Hamburg, she was clearly unhappy at how a helicopter journey had gone as she had a "terrible twos" tantrum on the tarmac at the airport.
After a demure display for her pre-nursery start photo-shoot, she again threatened to steal the limelight when she walked with her father and Prince George to the Lindo Wing of St Mary's Hospital, Paddington, after her youngest brother's birth, gracefully giving a royal wave the Queen herself would have been proud of.
What the latest photos that feature Charlotte will be is the subject of fevered anticipation.
Royal watchers are looking forward to a new family portrait, with Charlotte taking her place in the line-up along with newborn Prince Louis.
For her first birthday, Charlotte was pictured at play in Anmer Hall, pushing a wooden trolley outside, and in her bedroom.
The following year, Kate captured her daughter among haystacks, wearing a yellow cardigan featuring sheep across the top.
Charlotte received presents from 64 countries for her first birthday. Then prime minister David Cameron sent a book of Hans Christian Andersen fairy tales, and the American Sapphire Company sent her a £31,195 gemstone-studded white-gold rattle.
However she celebrates her birthday, it is likely her wishes will have to be taken into consideration.
Her parents have revealed a few things about her, including that she is generally "the boss".
During a royal engagement, as the Queen was chatting to a mother and daughter, Her Majesty asked the girl if she looked after her little sister. The mother replied it was the "other way around" - to which the Queen said: "It's like that with Charlotte and George."
Kate has previously made similar comments, telling a fellow mother of a two-year-old that Charlotte was the boss, but also that she and her brother got on very well.
Any party may also have to feature dancing.
In August last year, Kate told Royal National Ballet's director Tamara Rojo that her daughter "absolutely loves to dance".
That was followed by an invitation from the director to the institute's My First Ballet class, which William said they would take her up on.
William also told Malta's leader Joseph Muscat about his daughter's love of dancing during a royal trip in March.
But if her party doesn't involve dancing, it could involve horse riding.
Gold medal equestrian Natasha Baker says Kate has told her Charlotte loves riding, and has a passion for horses.
The comments were shared after a reception for Olympians and Paralympians at Buckingham Palace.
It has also been reported that the young princess enjoys tennis.
Whatever her celebrations involve, she and any friends who are invited over will probably be tucking into Italian toddler food.
Kate told helpers at a community centre, where work was under way for the Commonwealth Big Lunch, that Charlotte and George love to make pizza.
And during a visit to Great Ormond Street Hospital, her mother told a patient that Charlotte also loves pasta.
It is possible that any party, if it has a theme, could be bathed in pink.
While visiting a children's centre in November, Catherine told one of the girls her daughter's favourite colour is pink.
Indeed, she is already a fashion leader, with lines of clothing she has worn selling out within hours of new pictures appearing.
Perhaps it will be decorated with her own flower, a new chrysanthemum, pink with green tips, named the Rossano Charlotte after the youngster.
