Prince William and Kate Middleton’s son, Prince George, just celebrated his 8th birthday. Greetings for the little prince poured in from all over the world, first and foremost, of course, from his own famous family.
To mark the occasion, William and Kate posted a picture of their eldest son. But it wasn’t the fact that the Prince looks so sweet people that reacted to.
Rather, it turns out that Prince George is a true copy of his own father at the same age. Simply amazing!
Prince William and Kate Middleton’s relationship goes way back to a time when they were students. Over the years, Kate learned what royal life was about, and steadily became the object of the paparazzi’s attentions.
William and Kate both studied at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. The couple met through friends, and according to reports, Kate was really shy at first.
“I actually went bright red when I met you and scuttled off feeling very shy about meeting you,” she recalled.
“William wasn’t there for quite a bit of the time initially, he wasn’t there from Fresher’s Week, so it did take a bit of time for us to get to know each other.”
William, however, couldn’t really recall their first meeting, claiming that he had to “wrack his brains” to remember it.
In the beginning, William and Kate were nothing but really good friends. However, as the years at university passed, things became more serious.
Kate Middleton & William’s love story
As reported by Insider, the two started dating, reportedly thanks to a student fashion show, during which Kate caught William’s eye with an outfit that cost only $40.
According to the documentary, “The Day Will and Kate Got Married,” which aired in April of 2021, it was that specific outfit that changed everything.
“A switch had been flicked, he suddenly saw her in a different light, and I really believe that was the turning point in their relationship,” Katie Nicholl, Vanity Fair’s royal correspondent, said in the documentary.
Soon, they were deeply in love. And even though the outfit Kate wore was very special to him, William explained that everything changed as soon as they started hanging out.
“We were friends for over a year first and it just sort of blossomed from then on,” William told The Telegraph.”We just spent more time with each other and had a good giggle, and realized we shared the same interests.”
William and Kate spent a lot of time together, getting to know each other at university. In 2005 both of them graduated, Kate Middleton with a degree in art history and William in geography.
First public appearance in 2006
By this point, things had started to get serious. William and Kate both had publicly announced that they were dating, and by the time they graduated, they had already lived together for quite some time.
A year later, in 2006, Kate made her first public appearance with the Royal Family. Later that year, she, with her family alongside her, attended the Sovereign’s Parade at the Royal Military Academy, in which William appeared.
Being a member of the Royal Family must be a wonderful thing. The life itself seems pretty easy with all the money, nice houses, and fancy dinners. However – as we have seen in history, for example with Princess Diana – it can also be very tough. Especially considering the British tabloid press, who can be really harsh once they find a person to stalk.
And for Kate Middleton, this was also the case, as she became a subject of intense media fascination all over the country. After all, she was dating a future king. At the same time, of course, that shouldn’t have been an excuse for the media to dig deep into her private life.
In 2007, it was reported that William and Kate had split. Some of the reports even painted a picture of their ‘separation’ as being pretty inappropriate.
William & Kate – breakup in 2007
“He broke up with Kate because he’s met someone else who’s turned his head,” an anonymous source told The Observer at the time. “She’s from a decent background but is very naughty and he finds her much more exciting.”
“I don’t think it’s really over,” a friend of Kate’s told People. “I don’t think this is the last you’ll see of the two of them.”
Fortunately, their love story would come good just one year later. In 2008, William and Kate Middleton reconciled.
Years later, the couple spoke about their breakup, saying it was actually a good thing.
“We were both very young … and we were both finding ourselves,” William said in an interview with the Telegraph in 2010. “It was very much trying to find our own way and we were growing up.”
“I, at the time, wasn’t very happy about it, but actually it made me a stronger person,” Kate added.
“You find out things about yourself that maybe you hadn’t realized. I think you can get quite consumed by a relationship when you’re younger.”
It seems like William and Kate both think the breakup was a good idea when they look back on it. However, a report by the Mail in 2007 shed new light on what actually happened.
Kate Middleton was left “desperately upset”
Royal correspondents Laura Collins, Katie Nicholl, and Ian Gallagher claimed Prince William decided to split from Kate Middleton because he felt the “fun” had disappeared from the relationship.
Kate, meanwhile, was said to have been left “desperately upset,” as she already pictured the pair getting married in the future.
Shortly after the breakup, William was spotted roaming around different London nightclubs and seeing several different girls.
This was something Kate didn’t find pleasant at all, and according to the report, “harsh words” was exchanged as Kate thought she had been “humiliated” by William’s behavior.
Also, she felt that he was “cheapening her image.”
Following their breakup, however, things got better between William and Kate. They went on to become a loving couple and were very much appreciated among the public. Then, in 2010, the couple took the next step.
During a holiday in Kenya, William proposed.
Engaged in 2010
“We had a little private time away together with some friends and I just decided that it was the right time really. We had been talking about marriage for a while so it wasn’t a massively big surprise. I took her up somewhere nice in Kenya and I proposed,” William recalled.
He added: “I’d been planning it for a while but as every guy out there will know it takes a certain amount of motivation to get yourself going.
“So I was planning it and then it just felt really right out in Africa. It was beautiful at the time.I just … I had done a little bit of planning to show my romantic side.”
“It was very romantic,” Kate said. “There’s a true romantic in there.”
She didn’t see it coming at all, since they were out with friends. Beforehand, Kate had considered the idea that William might be going to propose. Even so, it came as a “total shock.”
“Everywhere I went I was keeping hold of it because I knew this thing, if it disappeared I would be in a lot of trouble and because I’d planned it, it went fine,” he said.
“You hear a lot of horror stories about proposing and things going horribly wrong – it went really, really well and I was really pleased she said yes.”
Princess Diana’s engagement ring
The ring was extra special, and suitable for a future Queen Consort, not least because it was a ring that belonged to his mother, Princess Diana.
“So I thought it was quite nice because obviously she’s not going to be around to share any of the fun and excitement of it all – this was my way of keeping her sort of close to it all.
“I’m not an expert on [rings] at all. I’ve been reliably informed it’s a sapphire with some diamonds. I’m sure everyone recognizes it from previous times.”
On April 29, 2011,William and Kate Middleton tied the knot at Westminster Abbey in London.
Today, the couple have been married for over 10 years and now have three lovely children, George (born in 2013), Charlotte (2015), and Louis (2018).
On July 22, Prince George turned eight years of age.
Prince George – 8th birthday
The Queen shared a sweet birthday message to her grandson via the official Royal Family account, writing: “Wishing Prince George a very happy 8th birthday today!” He is the monarch’s third oldest great-grandchild, after his cousins, Savannah and Isla Phillips.
Incidentally, Queen Elizabeth and Prince George seem to have a really sweet relationship. Back in 2016, Kate revealed that their then 2-year old son had a special nickname for his great-grandmother.
“George is only two-and-a-half and he calls her ‘Gan-Gan’,” she said.
Of course, William and Kate made sure to celebrate their firstborn son’s eighth birthday as well.
Besides giving him – we assume – presents, the royal couple also posted a wonderful picture of Prince George on their Instagram page.
“Turning eight(!) tomorrow!,” William and Kate wrote in the caption.
Prince George has grown up to be a very handsome young boy. But people reacted particularly strongly over one facet of the aforesaid birthday photo: That the little prince is pretty much his father’s doppelgänger from when he was the same age.
Striking similarities with William
“Looks like William so much,” one user wrote on Instagram.
“Oh my goodness look how much he resembles his Dad..and grandmother. Happy Birthday, young Prince,” another user said.
“Looks so much like his father,” a third replied.
And it wasn’t just royal fans that thought Prince George looked just like his father.
So did body language expert Judi James, who compared five photos of an 8-year-old William to the recent picture of George.
“It’s clear from George’s body language that he hero-worships his dad and William’s close mentoring of his son would make similar body language traits inevitable,” Judi James said.
“Body language is primarily a learned behaviour and so mimicking the person you want to be like is natural, but there is more than just current links and similarities between George and his dad.”
“Open affection and cuddles”
According to James, there are striking similarities between father and son when they both were roughly the same age.
“Looking at photographs of them both at roughly the same age we can see some striking similarities in body language and looks.
“There are hints of similar personalities in the making, impacted by their shared destiny as well as the open affection and cuddles that were part of both their childhoods.”
