The Prince and Princess of Wales have once again looked to a favourite photographer to capture Prince George on his 12th birthday.
While Kate Middleton is famously an accomplished photographer herself and has frequently marked family celebrations with her own images, the royal couple have called upon the services of high-profile snapper Josh Shinner more and more in recent years.
Today, William and Kate released a new image and a sweet film to mark their eldest son turning 12, showing him larking about with his siblings Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis.
The footage was captured behind-the-scenes at George’s birthday photoshoot, which took place earlier this year in Norfolk – and saw Shinner holding the camera.
The London-based photographer and director has an impressive portfolio, which includes shooting famous faces – Florence Pugh, Alexa Chung, Jodie Comer and Gemma Chan – for some of the biggest fashion bibles, including Harper’s Bazaar.
Today’s shot saw, George, who was born on July 22, 2013 at St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington, London, cutting a more mature figure.
George, who currently attends Lambrook School in Berkshire, will move to secondary education when he reaches the age of 13 – although it has not yet been confirmed which institution his parents have chosen to send him to, with Eton a clear frontrunner.
Dressed in a white checked shirt layered with a khaki gilet in Shinner’s image, the prince is seen leaning over a wooden gate as he smiles directly into the camera.
The snap echoes Prince Louis‘s seventh birthday portrait, released in April and also taken by Shinner on the same shoot.
The youngest son of the Prince and Princess of Wales was seen sitting among a stunning spring scene surrounded by bluebells, in the garden at Anmer Hall in Norfolk, the Wales family’s residence on the Sandringham Estate.
The photographer told Harper’s Bazaar in 2023 that he was inspired to get behind the camera by his mother, saying ‘she used to take wonderful pictures of us as kids.’
Growing up in the non-digital era, the British photographer told the publication he also had memories of collecting photographs from Boots after sending in film to be processed.
His first pro gig, when he was just 17, was capturing ‘a garden party at a nursing home’.
Shinner has come a long way since then, and has quietly become the most trusted photographer for the Prince and Princess of Wales, after the princess herself.
Back in 2023, the photographer took images of the family for their official Christmas portrait.
He shot Prince William and Kate, then both 41, in a casual family picture with George, then ten, Louis, then five, and Charlotte, then eight, in matching white shirts for the front of their festive card.
