As Princess Charlotte celebrates her first birthday, let’s all congratulate the young royal on being very good at this princess thing. Pink cardigan; a pink floral dress with a Peter Pan collar; pink tights; pink bow barrette; and to top it all off, a wooden baby walker with alphabet blocks: Never has a first-birthday ensemble better represented a budding English rose. For her birthday, Charlotte received the customary round of gifts from world leaders: a toy version of Bo the dog and a jigsaw puzzle from the Obamas, a silver rattle from the president of Mexico, a set of silk figurines from the president of China, a snowsuit and a $100,000 donation to a good cause in her honor from the prime minister of Canada, and a Hans Christian Andersen book from the prime minister of England, among others—all gifts fit for a princess.
Though other members of this magazine’s esteemed editorial staff have criticized news outlets for fawning over the British royal family, there’s an important counterargument to make: Certain members of that family are very cute! What are we supposed to do, not report on the extraordinary cuteness we’re witnessing? Chief among the royal adorables are Princess Charlotte and her older brother, Prince George, the young children of the duke and Duchess of Cambridge, better known Prince William and Duchess Kate. Yes, it’s true, there are other things going on in the world, but the facts remain that Kate and William have produced children who are exceptionally good at wearing darling clothes and looking adorable in photographs. These are talents that should not be undervalued. And Charlotte and George aren’t just cute—they’re strategically cute.
Will and Kate have a Beyoncé-like approach to social media and press: They like to own the narrative. Their strategy seems to be to keep their noses clean by saying little and communicating instead through a series of flawless photos. The press will of course capture them from time to time, but the royal family’s first choice is to release photos themselves, so they have full control of every aspect of the images and the press merely distributes them. If you don’t follow Kensington Palace on Instagram, first of all, congratulations on playing yourself (you’ve probably missed historically important moments such as Prince Harry meeting Justin Trudeau), but second of all, it’s one of the best places to immerse yourself in Will and Kate’s full vision of how they want their family to be seen. Oddly formal captions read as totally endearing: “The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are delighted to share new photographs of Princess Charlotte,” a recent one went, before an emoji of a camera and an unassuming “copyright of HRH The Duchess of Cambridge”—i.e., we’re to believe it was doting mother Kate who took these magazine-spread gorgeous pictures. “The Duke and Duchess are very happy to be able to share these important family moments, ahead of their daughter’s first birthday,” went another caption. It’s Charlotte’s birthday, but we get a present, these photos!
In every photo, the kids are impeccably attired, always kid-appropriate but a bit more dressed up than the average toddler. They’re formal, put-together, and British in a way most people, let alone children, don’t bother to dress anymore, with all the details just so. Those collars, those buttons, those knits! In the photo of Charlotte with the walker, there’s even the subtle message that she’s independent and does things for herself—a new kind of princess! It’s a perfectly executed tableau that deserves not just aws but admiration.
