Busy Charlotte & George At Another Wedding

The Duchess of Cambridge's good friend Sophie Carter was married to Robert Snuggs on Saturday at St Andrew's Episcopal Church in Norfolk.

Sophie, long time friend of Catherine and is godmother to Princess Charlotte. Charlotte and brother George were flower girl and page boy just as they were at uncle Prince Harry's wedding in May. 

Normally quite shy in front of the cameras, George was more outgoing this time and could be seen marching around like a soldier and cheekily smiling for the official photos. 

Catherine's parents Carole and Michael Middleton and younger brother James were also present as was Prince William.

 

Back To School For George & Charlotte

As with millions of other families, the Cambridges will be busy this week organising their children for a return to school after the summer break.

Prince George, 5, will be starting year one at Thomas's Battersea on Thursday. Although he attended Reception last year and will keep the same friends, George will have a new teacher and classroom as well as more advanced work to adjust to.

Princess Charlotte, 3, started at Willcocks Nursery School in Kensington in January. She will return to her routine on Wednesday.

The royal youngsters have had a wonderful summer break with baby brother Louis and mum and dad Catherine and William.

The family of five first celebrated Louis's baptism on 9th July and the following day the children watched the RAF Centenary flypast from a Buckingham Palace window while the adults stood on the balcony.

Mustique in the Caribbean was the venue for a beach holiday with their grandparents Carole and Michael Middleton. It was here George celebrated his birthday.

Then the family spent a large amount of time at their country residence, Amner Hall on the Sandringham Estate in Norfolk. Amner allows the children to run and play in privacy as well as enjoy the property's tennis court.

Towards the end of the holiday the Duke and Duchess and children headed to Balmoral Castle in Scotland to visit the Queen and Prince Philip. Here George took part in his first grouse shoot which is quite a milestone for a royal youngster. 

All in all a lovely holiday before school begins again.

New Portrait Of George

To celebrate Prince George of Cambridge's 5th birthday, a new portrait has been released. The photograph taken by Matt Porteous shows a very happy little boy in the grounds of Clarence House after Prince Louis' christening on July 9th. 

It is believed that George, parents and siblings are holidaying on the island of Mystique with Catherine's parents Carole and Michael Middleton.  

Charlotte & George To Star At Pippa's Wedding

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's children Prince George and Princess Charlotte will be the stars of their aunt Pippa's wedding next month. 

Catherine's younger sister Pippa will marry banker James Matthews at St Mark's Church, Englefield near the Middleton home in Berkshire on 20th May. George will be a pageboy and Charlotte who will turn two next week will be a flower girl. The Duchess will not have a formal role on the day but is expected to give a reading at the church.

It has been confirmed that Prince Harry will also be present at the wedding. He will most likely join the Cambridges who will be staying as guests of Carole and Mike Middleton at their family home in Bucklebury. 

It will be a very busy time for the bride's parents who will host the reception in a marquee on their grounds. 

Heads Together 

Catherine, William and Harry have been undertaking several speaking engagements in the last few weeks to promote their organisation Heads Together.

Heads Together is an umbrella for the mental health charities that the royal trio support:

• Best Beginnings
• CALM – The Campaign Against Living Miserably)
• Contact (a military mental health coalition)
• Mind
• Place2Be
• The Mix
• YoungMinds
• The Anna Freud Centre

 Last weekend's London Marathon chose the organisation as this year's beneficiary. 

Prince Harry spoke about his struggle to process the grief for his mother, the late Princess of Wales who died 20 years ago. Harry was just 12 when he lost his mother and bottled up his feelings because he didn't see the benefit in dredging up sadness. 

From express.co.uk

"The fifth in line to the throne said he sought help when he was 28 after his brother the Duke of Cambridge intervened. Harry, 32, said he had "shut down all my emotions" for almost two decades after losing his mother but often felt anxiety during royal engagements and on the verge of punching someone.

The Prince, now a much calmer individual, admitted he took up boxing to try to control his aggression but for a long time felt that lining in the public eye he could be "very close to a complete breakdown on numerous occasions".

In an interview with the Daily Telegraph journalist Bryony Gordon, he said he had spent his teenagers years and early twenties determined not to think about his mother after losing her when he was 12.
“I have probably been very close to a complete breakdown on numerous occasions when all sorts of grief and sort of lies and misconceptions and everything are coming to you from every angle," he said.

Asked whether he had been to see a 'shrink' to offload his thoughts, he said: “I’ve done that a couple of times, more than a couple of times, but it’s great.”

I have probably been very close to a complete breakdown on numerous occasions. Harry admitted that he had turned to boxing as an outlet for his frustration.

My way of dealing with it was sticking my head in the sand, refusing to ever think about my mum, because why would that help?
“During those years I took up boxing, because everyone was saying boxing is good for you and it’s a really good way of letting out aggression,” he said.

“And that really saved me because I was on the verge of punching someone, so being able to punch someone who had pads was certainly easier.”

He eventually asked for help with the encouragement of William, 34, and others close to him, who told him: “Look, you really need to deal with this. It is not normal to think that nothing has affected you.”
Since learning to talk honestly about his feelings, he said, he now feels able to put “blood, sweat and tears” into making a difference for others.

Prince Harry said he turned to boxing following his mother's death

“The experience I have had is that once you start talking about it, you realise that actually you’re part of quite a big club,” he said.
He said he counted himself lucky that it was "only two years … of total chaos" before he learned to talk about his mental health problems. "I just couldn’t put my finger on it,” he said. “I just didn’t know what was wrong with me."

He had even found himself battling a "flight or fight" reaction without understanding why when he was on official royal duties.
He insisted it was all about Diana and nothing to do with his experiences serving two two tours of duty in Afghanistan."

Cambridges and Middletons Visit Balmoral Castle

The Cambridge family arrived in Scotland last Thursday to spend time in beautiful Balmoral Castle.

William aged 15 months at Balmoral

Soon after, Catherine's parents Carole and Michael Middleton also arrived and have been enjoying time with their daughter and extended royal family. 

Catherine, William and children George and Charlotte initially stayed with Prince Charles and Camilla at Birkhall, which the Prince inherited from the late Queen Mother. 

Then they moved over to Balmoral Castle to enjoy time with the Queen, Prince Philip, Princess Anne and other family. 

On separate occasions, the Queen was seen driving both Catherine, and later her mother around the estate to attend picnics set up for the grouse shooting party and to see the spectacular sights.

The Middletons also joined the Royal family for a Sunday church service at nearby Crathie Kirk. It is the same church that Princes William and Harry came to pray just hours after the death of their mother Diana, Princess of Wales in 1997.

On the 24th of September, the Cambridge family will start their week long tour of Canada.

Catherine Speaks About George

source: Duchess of Cambridge

The Duchess of Cambridge has had a steady stream of royal engagements in the past few weeks. 

The year ahead is going to be busy for Catherine and William with a tour of India and Bhutan in the northern Spring as well as attending the Queen's 90th birthday celebrations. They will also be joined in France by Prince Harry, Prince Charles and his wife Camilla in late June to mark the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Somme. 

Recently Catherine attended her first engagement in her capacity of Patron of the Air Cadets. This patronage was passed to the Duchess by Prince Philip who is slowly reducing his patronages as he ages. 

As the first female Honorary Air Commandant of the RAF Air Cadets, Catherine took part in a church service at the RAF church, St Clement Danes, followed by a reception at the Royal Courts of Justice.

source: Blog Author

The Express newspaper wrote about Catherine divulging son George's love of aeroplanes: 

She told cadet Lucinda Conder, 19, that she had shown George, who is two and a half, pictures of Spitfires after a royal engagement.

"He is now obsessed with the air cadets and wants to join," said Ms Conder, a medical student from Hammersmith in west London, who was the top female cadet of 2015. "We are going to have to push that one when he gets to age 12."

George's love of aviation is not surprising given that he has flying in his blood from both sides of the family:

• Before having children, the Duchess's mother Carole was a flight attendant with British Airways and father Michael worked as ground staff for the airline.

• Michael's father Peter flew with the RAF

• Prince William has flown both fixed wing aircraft and helicopters in the RAF and is currently a pilot with East Anglia Air Ambulance.

• Prince Harry flew helicopters with the RAF and did stints in Afghanistan twice.

• Prince Charles also flew aircraft in the armed services as did his brother Prince Andrew, most notably RAN helicopters in the Falklands War.

And since helicopters are a frequent mode of transport for the royal family, George will no doubt see them coming and going from Kensington Palace and the Sandringham Estate.

 

George And Charlotte Visit Middletons

Prince George and his baby sister Princess Charlotte have recently spent time with their maternal grandparents Carole and Michael Middleton. 

People magazine reports that Carole was seen carrying Charlotte in a baby carrier strapped to her at an artisan market in the Middleton's home village of Bucklebury. The baby princess was wearing a white cardigan. 

George didn't miss out on the fun though. Carole took George to a Bucklebury cafe for a slice of cake and he was busy playing with his toy plane. A customer told People magazine:

"He was running around the tables flying his little red airplane going 'brrrrr' to all the people having a cup of tea."

In the recently released Christmas photo of the Cambridge family, a red train engine could be seen. No doubt the toy was to encourage George to cooperate for the photo session. 

Last year Catherine and William took toddler George to the Thursford Christmas Show near their home Amner Hall in Norfolk. Perhaps George and his new sister will visit Santa again this year?

Highrove House Playground For Cambridge Children

Monday 3rd August, 2015

source:princeofwales.gov.uk

A tree house that once belonged to Princes William and Harry has been restored for a new generation of royal children to enjoy.

The tree house was built in 1989 for the brothers at the Prince and Princess of Wales' country home Highgrove House in Gloucestershire. It includes a retractable rope ladder which William wanted so he could be left alone if he so desired!

The retreat has been restored for George and Charlotte and other grandchildren in the future.

An example of a shepherd's hut source:plankbridge

Prince Charles has also been given a beautiful artisan shepherd's hut
which has been placed on the edge of Highgrove's wildflower meadow. The hut which has a day bed and wood burner was a gift to Prince Charles for George's first birthday last year.

Dorset company Plankbridge donated the hut to thank The Prince of Wales whose Prince's Trust gave support to the company when it was a start up.

George and Carole Beach Photos

Photos of Prince George and his grandma Carole Middleton enjoying a trip to the beach near Anmer Hall have appeared on the internet.

Carole, George and the Cambridge's dog Lupo were snapped playing in the sand on the morning of George's second birthday.

Later that day a birthday party was held at Anmer Hall for a dozen little friends. The Queen, Prince Philip and Carole Middleton were among the guests.

As the beach photos were taken at a time when privacy was expected I have chosen not to add the snaps to this blog.

George's Fun Outings

Friday 26th June, 2015

Bucklebury Farm Park

Despite becoming a big brother in May, Prince George has continued to have fun outings with family. 

As I wrote in an earlier post, George and his mum went to London's Holland Park a few weeks ago for a low key play one Sunday morning. 

The young prince has also recently visited a cafe and farm shop in Holt, not far from the Cambridges' country residence, Anmer Hall. Catherine bought George a meringue as a yummy sweet treat.

And Carole Middleton, Catherine's mum, has been on grandma duty. Carole took George to Bucklebury Farm Park near the Middleton family home in Berkshire for a visit with the farm animals and petting zoo. 

All this is on top of George reportedly helping Prince Charles plant two trees at the Prince of Wales country home Highrove House in Gloucestershire. No doubt the trees were in honour of Charles' only grandchildren George and Charlotte!

Young William with his family at Highgrove House

First Visitors For New Princess

Monday 4th May, 2015

The Duke And Duchess Of Cambridge received visits from close family
members on Sunday morning. Prince Charles and wife the Duchess Of Cornwall along with Catherine's parents Michael and Carole and sister Pippa came to meet the new princess.

The baby girl was born at 8.34am on Saturday morning and was taken home to Kensington Palace less than ten hours later. Brother Prince George will be adjusting to the new family member and no doubt was given lots of attention from his grandparents when they visited on Sunday.

source: KensingtonRoyal

Uncle Prince Harry who is currently working with Australian special forces in Perth released this statement:

"She is absolutely beautiful. I can't wait to meet her." 

The Cambridges too issued a message via twitter:

"The Duke and Duchess are hugely grateful for the messages of congratulations they have received from people all over the world.
It means a great deal to them that so many people have celebrated the arrival of their new daughter."

Next, there may be a visit from great-grandma Her Majesty The Queen.

Hopefully the name of the new baby will be released in the next couple of days.

George Visits Middletons

Wednesday 22nd April, 2015

The Duchess of Cambridge last week spent some time with her parents Michael and Carole at their home in Bucklebury, Berkshire. 

Catherine and George visited the local children's attraction Bucklebury Farm Park on the weekend. A photo has emerged on the cover of an American newspaper. The farm offer childrens outdoor activities, farm animals, petting zoo on 74 acres. School visits and birthday parties are also catered for. 

http://www.buckleburyfarmpark.co.uk/

It is believed Catherine and George are now ensconced at Kensington Palace with the new baby due any time. Prince William has finished the first phase of his helicopter pilot training course for East Anglia Ambulance and will now be on paternity leave and unpaid leave until early June to enable him to undertake pre arranged royal engagements.

Happy New Year

Saturday 3rd January, 2015

Snippets of news regarding Prince George of Cambridge have been revealed over the festive period. 

Family Christmas
The Cambridge family arrived at their Norfolk home, Anmer Hall a week before Christmas. As reported previously, George was taken to see Santa at the Thursford Christmas fair by his parents Catherine and William.

Catherine's parents Carole and Michael along with siblings Pippa and James also spent the days before Christmas at Amner Hall.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge attended the traditional Christmas Eve dinner with the royal family at Sandringham House. The next morning the couple  and the Middleton family joined the royal family at Sandringham's St Mary Magdalene church.

After church, Catherine was asked about Prince George and she commented that he was left at home. "I'm sorry we didn't bring George but you would have heard him in the church."
According to the Daily Mail, Prince William spoke to Kim Dawson from Downham Market. She said: "He said Prince George was really, really well and said that they've left him at the nursery because it's a bit cold, but they were looking forward to going back to see what destruction he had caused."

Maddison Neal, 8, gave The Duchess a gift of chocolates for the young prince. Maddison's mum Sarah revealed that her daughter had met George the previous Sunday at a service at Amner Church. "She helped him with his lantern and he blew her a kiss."

After a gathering at Sandringham House, Catherine and William then returned to George and the Middleton family at Anmer for Christmas lunch. 

Farmers Market
It has now come to light the Catherine's mother Carole took George to a farmer's market in her local village of Bucklebury.

The outing took place while The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were on an official trip to New York and Washington in early December.

Carole and Michael Middleton

According to People magazine:

Dressed in a little tweed jacket, George toured the stalls of organic vegetables and crafts and was "trying all the food," a villager tells PEOPLE. He even "went back for a second helping of Christmas pudding from one of the stalls. It was wonderful for the girl who makes them. It will make her year won't it?"

"It was just really, really sweet. He was just being like a normal toddler is, running around and exploring – he is such a sweetie. He's lovely. A real bundle of fun," the villager adds.

The hands-on grandmother is like "any other nan – real mother hen," another source says. "She just keeps telling people 'He's gorgeous, isn't he?' like any other grandmother would say about their little one."

Fulltime Nanny Spotted With George

9th March, 2014

Seven months old Prince George has been spotted in Hyde Park in the care of a new nanny. 

George's parents, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have flown to the Maldives for a holiday after William completed his 10 week bespoke agriculture course at Cambridge University.

It is believed the new nanny is a full time replacement for Jessie Webb who has been helping on an ad-hoc basis. Catherine's mother Carole Middleton and Ms Webb have been guiding the unnamed nanny through the routines of the young prince. 

The nanny will be on hand for the Cambridge's tour of Australia and New Zealand due to commence on the 7th of April. A rest day on the 8th is planned ahead of the tour proper starting on the 9th April. 

Off To Grandma's

Wednesday 24th July, 2013

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have left Kensington Palace and will spend time at the Bucklebury, Berkshire home of Catherine's parents.

After meeting Uncle Harry and The Queen, Baby Cambridge was on the move again, strapped into his baby capsule with his Mum in the backseat beside him.

The couple waved to well wishers outside the palace. Catherine's mother Carole will be able to offer her daughter support in these first few weeks with a new baby, especially when William returns to work as a search and rescue pilot in Angelsey, Wales. He is currently on two weeks paternity leave.

Catherine and William do not have a nanny for the baby and plan to do as much hands on parenting as possible.

It is hoped that the names of the baby prince will be announced in the coming days. The Queen was almost certainly told of the choice when she visited earlier. 

Baby Prince meets his Grandparents!

Tuesday 23rd July

He may be just 24 hours old but Baby Cambridge has already had some very excited visitors to the Lindo Wing on Tuesday.

First time Grandfather Prince Charles and his second wife Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall visited William, Catherine and their new son for the first time.

The couple had been in Yorkshire for official engagements when the baby was born and they made sure they could visit as soon as they could the next day.

It was the first time that the new first, second and third in line to the throne were in the same room.

"You've had a long wait," he joked to the waiting media.

 Prince Charles issued an official statement on Monday night: 

"Both my wife and I are overjoyed at the arrival of my first grandchild. It is an incredibly special moment for William and Catherine and we are so thrilled for them on the birth of their baby boy.

"Grandparenthood is a unique moment in anyone's life, as countless kind people have told me in recent months, so I am enormously proud and happy to be a grandfather for the first time and we are eagerly looking forward to seeing the baby in the near future."  

Earlier in the afternoon, Catherine's beaming parents Michael and Carole arrived at the hospital to meet their new grandson.
"He's absolutely beautiful," Carole said after the visit. "They're doing fabulously."