She’s the cheeky little princess who already has her dad wrapped around her little finger. And, can you believe it, Charlotte is turning five tomorrow!
To mark her birthday, Kensington Palace has released new pictures of Charlotte as she helped her parents deliver home-made pasta to vulnerable Norfolk residents isolated by coronavirus earlier this week – a royal ‘meals on Wills’, you may say.
With her dark locks and eyes, Charlotte is, in many respects, the spitting image of her mother, the Duchess of Cambridge, as a young girl. But that mischievous smile is Prince William all over.
The new commemorative portraits were, as usual, taken by keen amateur snapper Kate, 38, earlier this week in between home schooling sessions at Anmer Hall, the family’s Norfolk home on the Queen’s Sandringham estate.
To mark her birthday, Kensington Palace has released new pictures of Charlotte as she helped her parents deliver home-made pasta (left and right) to vulnerable Norfolk residents isolated by coronavirus earlier this week – a royal ‘meals on Wills’, you may say
The new commemorative portraits (left and right) were, as usual, taken by keen amateur snapper Kate, 38, earlier this week in between home schooling sessions at Anmer Hall, the family’s Norfolk home on the Queen’s Sandringham estate
The entire family helped out with a local initiative started by the monarch’s staff, who have been preparing and delivering meals for pensioners and the vulnerable in the area during the lockdown.
Around 1,000 meals were dispensed in the first week alone, and the scheme has been running for five weeks so far.
This time the Cambridges, all keen cooks, rustled up some home-made pasta which they separated into 12 large bags and tied up with raffia to add to the food parcels. Sources said all the children – even little Louis, two – were involved.
The following day, the family – Charlotte smartly dressed in a black and white checked dress with grey tights and black Mary Jane shoes – then helped to load bags of fresh produce into a van from the Sandringham Visitors’ Centre ready for delivery.
Sources say William, Kate, Charlotte and George spent two and a half hours driving around the area delivering food to those in need.
Sources say William, Kate, Charlotte and George (pictured with the children clapping for the NHS on the BBC Children In Need’s ‘Big Night In’ on April 23) spent two and a half hours driving around the area delivering food to those in need
The princess can even be seen in one picture proudly knocking on an elderly resident’s door with her goodies, standing on a mat which reads ‘Welcome Home, Wipe Your Feet’.
One surprised local said: ‘They got drenched as it was pouring with the rain but I think they just wanted to do their bit.’
Other royal residences have been involved in similar initiatives: The housekeeping team at Balmoral have been making face masks and laundry bags for Aberdeen Royal Infirmary.
And at Windsor Castle, where the Queen is staying for lockdown, they have made scrubs, washbags, headbands and scrub hats for NHS staff at hospitals including nearby Frimley Park.
William and Kate recently spoke of how difficult it has been for them, like most parents, to explain what is going on in the country to their young family.
William and Kate (pictured on a video call to staff at Casterton Primary Academy in Burnley last month) recently spoke of how difficult it has been for them, like most parents, to explain what is going on in the country to their young family
The Royals (pictured, Prince George in a photo released on April 22) have got them involved in positive initiatives such as the weekly clap for carers and, now, the royal meals on wheels
But they have got them involved in positive initiatives such as the weekly clap for carers and, now, the royal meals on wheels.
William, 37, like most fathers, has a particular soft spot for his young daughter.
‘Yes, she is lovely – just like my wife,’ he told a well-wisher in Wales earlier this year after they said Charlotte was their ‘favourite royal’. But that’s not to say she is mollycoddled.
While she loves arts, crafts, modelling and, of course, the recent craze for ‘slime’, she’s not adverse to kicking a football around with her brothers or getting covered in mud.
The little princess also has a mischievous streak – famously poking her tongue out when she spotted her grandfather, Michael Middleton, in the crowd at The King’s Cup regatta last summer.
And most were left utterly enchanted when they saw her skipping around her mother’s show garden at Chelsea last year, completely carefree.
Last night Kensington Palace said in a statement: ‘The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are very pleased to share four new photographs of Princess Charlotte ahead of her fifth birthday.
‘The photographs were taken in April by the duchess on the Sandringham estate, where the family helped to pack up and deliver food packages for isolated pensioners.’