As hoped, we have new photos of Charlotte in advance of her first birthday tomorrow. But we didn’t get just one new picture…
HRH The Duchess of Cambridge
Or two…
HRH The Duchess of Cambridge
Or even three…
HRH The Duchess of Cambridge
It was a birthday bonanza this morning, as a total of four photos were released of the almost-a-toddler (?) Princess.
The pictures were taken by Charlotte’s mother, the Duchess of Cambridge, at the family’s country home, Anmer Hall. In the picture directly above you can see the family’s dog, Lupo, cavorting in the background.
In all of the pictures Charlotte looks absolutely precious, her eyes still that beautiful shade of blue. Kate captured a wonderful range of facial expressions, with her daughter looking pensive, intrigued, impish, and perhaps jolly. Those are probably not the best adjectives to describe Charlotte’s varied expressions, but they roughly convey a sense of what I see in the pictures.
©HRH The Duchess of Cambridge
Here you see a progression of pictures showing Charlotte the last six months, from (right to left): photos taken by Kate in November of last year; a family photo from December, 2015; on a family vacation this March; and then in one of the images released today.
HRH The Duchess of Cambridge/John Stillwell, Splash News/Chris Jelf, PA Wire/HRH The Duchess of Cambridge
Here we see Charlotte side by side with her older brother George on the eve of his first birthday, they share the same chubby cheeks at this age.
©John Stillwell, PA Wire/HRH Duchess of Cambridg
It is fun to see how each of the Cambridge children looked as they began walking; they also seem to favor each other in these photographs.
©John Stillwell, PA Wire/HRH Duchess of Cambridge
As several people commented on the WKKW Facebook page, Charlotte also resembles the Queen in one of the pictures released today, shown on the far right below. I added two other pictures where we see this resemblance, including one from the just-released formal photo portraits of the Queen (center) and one from last November’s pictures (left).
HRH Duchess of Cambridge/Annie Leibovitz/HRH Duchess Cambridge
In the new pictures we see Charlotte in clothing and accessories much like pieces seen previously: dresses in muted tones with pretty collar detailing, cardigans and ribbed tights. As we saw in the Queen’s 90th birthday portrait her hair is now long enough to be pulled off her forehead with a small clip.
Now to the details of what Charlotte wore in her 1st birthday pictures, starting with her pink outfit.
HRH Duchess Cambridge
Her dress is not yet identified. Because of the distinctive Peter Pan collar on Charlotte’s dress and on many made by Rachel Riley I have made an inquiry to see if perhaps Charlotte’s dress is a bespoke piece by the popular children’s retailer. Rachel Riley usually uses prints with a larger repeat and in brighter colors, but it seems worth checking.
Rachel Riley
We recognize Charlotte’s cardigan, it is the same M and H sweater worn in the Queen’s 90th birthday photo portrait. (As soon as we have a dress ID I will update the post as well as Facebook and Twitter.)
Her tights have also been seen before, the Amaia Kids Ribbed Tights in Dusty Rose (£11). Charlotte wears the Amaia Kids Small Hair Bow in either Dusky Pink or Quartz (£2.50). And we see her in another pair of Early Days shoes, the Emma Pre-Walker in navy ($41 as shown below at Childrensalon).
Amaia Kids/Early Days
Now for the blue hues worn by the Princess. (Wasn’t it a delight to see her wearing blue?!)
M and H tells me they are 99% sure Charlotte is wearing one of their dresses in the two pictures with a blue dress. Below you see Charlotte’s dress, it is from their fall/winter 2015 collection.
M&H Tiendas
If wondering why M and H doesn’t always have photos of Charlotte’s frocks, it is probably due in part to the fact they only make about 50 dresses in each style (10 for each of their 5 stores), their products are not mass produced.
The cardigan is by a brand Prince George has worn, Olivier Baby. Charlotte is in the Princess Charlotte Cashmere Rose Stitch Cardigan in Cream (£59 – £89). The sweater is made from “chunky, 6 ply cashmere,” according to the Olivier Baby website. Thanks for this ID to The Daily Telegraph. Below, reaction from the company as shared in The Daily Mail:
‘We are absolutely thrilled that Princess Charlotte looks so happy and beautiful wearing our rose stitch cashmere cardigan. It’s an honour to be part of such a momentous occasion on her first birthday.
‘Prince George was pictured in one of our star back cardigans at the polo last summer. Our traditional style is in keeping with their own.
‘It’s wonderful for a small, home-grown British family brand.’
Olivier Baby
There’s an interesting story about the cardigan’s creation in this Telegraph story; the person being quoted is Olivier Baby’s founder Emma Davison.
“The cardigan Princess Charlotte is wearing was actually our first design,” Davison tells The Telegraph. “My own daughter is called Rose and my nanny mentioned a stitch called the Rose stitch so that’s how it came about. It’s very close to my heart.”
We see Amaia Kids Ribbed Tights in Light Blue, and more Small Hair Bows; in one photo I believe she wears navy, and in the other the bow is either Denim or Capri, it’s tough to tell. And we see the Emma Prewalker by Early Days again.
Amaia Kids/Amaia Kids/Olivier Kids
In one of the pictures you see Charlotte pushing a toy, it is the Pintoy Baby Walker with Alphabet Blocks. The toy is available in the UK at Treehouse toys (£50) and Mulberry Bush Toys (£49). In the US we found it at Amazon where the price is $145. Thank you to Monique Jessen from People magazine for her speedy ID on this item.
Toy Centre/John Lewis
People magazine has reaction from the company.
“We are thrilled to see Princess Charlotte with the Toy Centre baby walker,” a spokesperson tells PEOPLE. “The royal children are often seen with traditional wooden toys as found at The Toy Centre, I think it shows how the family value the quality and beauty of traditional wooden toys.”
Charlotte is also seen with a copy of the children’s classic Wheels on the Bus; above we show it at John Lewis, but there are multiple versions of the book available.
We have been looking for the chair seen in one photo; Laura suggests on the Facebook page that it is a piece by British retailer Lloyd Loom. Below we show the Lloyd Loom Bossanova chair in pink as well as blue.
Lloyd Loom / HRH The Duchess of Cambridge
Lloyd Loom pieces come in a variety of colors, the piece in Charlotte’s photo looks like their grey.It would make sense, the company has a collection just for children.
Lloyd Loom
The chair does look quite similar to Charlotte’s, I have made an inquiry with the company.
If you need a handy-dandy reference, here are two graphics showing what Charlotte wore. Hopefully we’ll soon be able to fill in the blank area where a dress belongs!
And Charlotte’s blue ensemble in a graphic image.
I have had several emails and messages asking what camera Kate uses; it is a Canon, the brand’s EOS 52 Mark II.
LINKAGE:
- The Telegraph did a stellar job of quickly identifying much of what Charlotte was wearing in this story by Alice Newbold
- Monique Jessen’s People magazine story is here; The Daily Mail’s coverage may be seen here
- For a story in The Telegraph about Olivier Baby and Charlotte’s Cardigan click here
A www. She is so precious. Hopefully she will grow up to be a lady like her mum and grandmother.
Beautiful pictures! What a delight to see Princess Charlotte in classic traditional clothing. Absolutely love it.
I am way past buying children’s clothes but not long (hopefuly) from Grandchildren. I love very traditional clothing and Charlotte and George have some lovely pieces. if I had a child to buy for I would grab up both sweaters and both dresses. along with some of the Spanish pieces from earlier:) I also loved Georges outfit from the official photo with the Queen and all her Grandchildren by Annie L.
She’s just tooooooo precious and gorgeous and beautiful!
Excellent post with all the info! 😀
Thanks a lot!
Princess Charlotte is a beautiful child and has lovely clothes. Six-ply cashmere is very special. Inexpensive cashmere sweaters, the thin kind, are two-ply. Conventional cashmere, as you’d find at Lands End or M&S, is four-ply. Six-ply is warm and luxurious, and expensive.
What lovely pictures! It’s to nice to see children growing and happy.
I think there must be some truth to that article saying Kate was sticking to very similar clothing for Charlotte’s official appearances as to diminish the fashion frenzy surrounding her.