Princess Charlotte birthday: Will Prince William and Princess Kate release photo?

The Palace released this image to mark Princess Charlotte's seventh birthday. Photo / Getty Images

Just one week after her brother’s sixth birthday, Princess Charlotte celebrates her own birthday today, with many royalists eagerly anticipating the release of a new portrait.

The Daily Mail has reported that despite the excitement of Charlotte’s ninth birthday, some royal fans are questioning whether Kate Middleton and Prince William will share a new portrait of their only daughter, after the Princess of Wales’ photo editing incident earlier this year.

For the past 10 years, it has become a tradition that the Wales family and Kensington Palace release portraits of their children on the morning of their birthdays. However, on Louis’ birthday on April 23, this tradition appeared to be broken after the photo was released in the afternoon.

Princess Charlotte on her eighth birthday. Photo / Kensington Palace

The Daily Mail’s Rebecca English soon revealed the delayed image release was reportedly because the family were not going to release an image at all as they battled for privacy following Kate’s heartbreaking cancer announcement, but decided last minute that they wanted to share the photo to show thanks to fans for their birthday wishes to the little prince.

Elsewhere, royal expert Richard Fitzwilliams claimed the couple likely took part in multiple conversations regarding the release of the photo. He added that the delay in release could “emphasise her need for time, space and privacy which she [Kate] expressed so movingly” in her video announcement in March.

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In recent months, royal photos have come under the microscope since Kate apologised for “confusion” around the Mother’s Day photo released on the holiday in the UK. Hours after the photo was released on March 10, several photo agencies recalled it due to concerns it had been manipulated.

The next day, a royal statement attributed to Kate read: “Like many amateur photographers, I do occasionally experiment with editing. I wanted to express my apologies for any confusion the family photograph we shared yesterday caused.”

Further concerns were raised when Getty Images revealed on March 18 that a photo Kate took of the late Queen Elizabeth with her grandchildren and great-grandchildren had apparently also been manipulated.

A Getty spokesperson told the Daily Telegraph at the time: “Getty Images has reviewed the image in question and placed an editor’s note on it, stating that the image has been digitally enhanced at source.”