Kensington Palace blunder as second picture of Prince George quietly shared after 'error'

Kensington Palace made a blunder when they shared Prince George's birthday image to mark his 12th birthday on Tuesday morning. The photograph, posted on Kensington Palace's social media, shows George outdoors, smiling and leaning on a wooden gate in Norfolk, and wearing a friendship bracelet on his left wrist.

Alongside the new image was the message: "Happy 12th Birthday to Prince George!" followed by a cake emoji. However, eagle-eyed royal fans spotted that the image was actually shared twice in a major gaffe.

The first image, shared at 9.45am, simply shared a birthday message to the young royal, however, almost 10 minutes later, the post was shared again with a slight tweak to the text accompanying the picture. The second version included a credit to the photographer behind the snap, Josh Shinner.

Prince George beamed at the camera in the new image released by Kensington Palace this morning to mark his special day. Wearing a blue checked shirt rolled up at the sleeves with a green fleece gilet over the top, George leans against a wooden fence and wears a blue and white string friendship bracelet.

The youngster's picture was taken earlier this year in Norfolk by Josh Shinner, a favourite photographer for the Wales family. This marks the third time he has worked with the Prince and Princess of Wales as he previously took the family's 2023 Christmas card and Prince Louis' 7th birthday portrait.

The decision to hire a trusted snapper this year may be because of the backlash the Princess received after she shared an edited photograph of her posing with her three children for Mother's Day.

The photographer's love for his hobby developed further at university, with Josh having previously said his mum taking wonderful pictures during his childhood was a great inspiration for him.

In a previous interview with Harper's Bazaar magazine, he said: "My mum has a great eye and she used to take wonderful pictures of us as kids. Some of that obviously rubbed off, as I remember the joy of getting films back from Boots fairly early on in life - no doubt with some very average holiday snaps on.

"It was at university that I realised I could get in to see my favourite bands for free if I just took photographs, which felt like a pretty good deal, so that's when I really got into it."