Victoria Ward
London: Britain’s Princess Charlotte demonstrates her impressive bowling technique in a video released to mark her 11th birthday.
A short clip of the princess, released on Saturday (London time), shows her playing cricket, sitting with the family’s cocker spaniels Orla and Otto on a boat and using stones and shells to write messages on the beach.
It was accompanied by the message: “Thank you for the lovely birthday messages for Princess Charlotte, 11 today!”
Earlier, a portrait of the young princess wearing jeans and a striped jumper in a field of daisies was released. A message read: “Wishing Charlotte a very happy 11th birthday!” along with a cake emoji.
The photo and the video were both taken by Matt Porteous, one of the Prince and Princess of Wales’s favoured photographers, during the family’s Easter break in Cornwall.
Over the past year, Prince William and Princess Catherine have taken to releasing footage of their children on certain birthdays, as well as their annual portrait.
Saturday’s portrait is the third from the family holiday to be released within 10 days, following those marking Prince Louis’ eighth birthday on April 23 and the prince and princess’s 15th wedding anniversary on April 29.
Princess Charlotte, third in line to the throne, attends the co-educational private Lambrook School near Ascot in Berkshire alongside her brothers, Prince George, 12, and Prince Louis.
The princess loves dancing, especially ballet and tap, crafting and swimming.
In December, she showed off her piano-playing skills as she joined her mother for a duet on the Steinway grand piano at Inner Hall in Windsor Castle. Their rendition of Erland Cooper’s Holm Sound was broadcast during the opening sequence of Catherine’s “Together at Christmas” carol service.
Charlotte has been variously described by palace insiders as a “strong character, almost wise beyond her years” and “the leader of the pack” who has often been seen keeping her brothers in check.
She was last seen in public on Easter Sunday, when the royal family walked to church at Windsor Castle.
She waved politely to the crowd of onlookers, demonstrating – not for the first time – a natural confidence and ease in public.
Charlotte Elizabeth Diana was born in the Lindo Wing of St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington, London, at 8.34am on May 2, 2015, weighing 8lb 3oz.
She owes her middle names to her late great-grandmother Elizabeth II and her late grandmother Diana – and is said by royal fans to bear a resemblance to both when they were younger.
The princess was pictured looking windswept and ruddy-cheeked in a camouflage jacket and backpack during a family hike in Cumbria on her birthday last year.
Previous birthday portraits have shown her at home wearing more formal dresses, skirts and jumpers, ever beaming and with carefully brushed hair.
The latest image released by Kensington Palace comes days after a photograph and video footage of Prince Louis digging in the sand, playing cricket and jumping into the sea from a boat was shared with the public.
The family portrait, released on Wednesday to mark William and Catherine’s wedding anniversary, showed the couple and their three children lying on the grass in the sunshine, their legs and arms entangled.
On Friday, a photograph of the family’s new cocker spaniel puppy, Otto, taken by Catherine, was released to mark his first birthday.
