Royal children through the ages: Who will Kate and William's baby look like?
- 1/13
This is King George V in 1870. Those big deep set eyes are unrecognisable in the current Royal family. The fashionable child starts a century-long trend as he dons a sailor suit - a style repeated through the ages by Queen Alexandra's grandchildren and Prince William. Perhaps William and Kate will follow Royal tradition and dress their child in this way… but let’s hope not!
- 2/13
Queen Alexandra has her hands full here with this brood of grandchildren. Sailor suits were all the rage in 1904 with two out of her seven grandchildren dressed in the twee outfits. A hat was a must, as it is today on many Royal occasions, but we do hope William and Kate won’t be placing anything similar to that grand and heavy-looking baby bonnet on their child’s head. A knitted crown would be far more suitable, don’t you think? (PA)
- 3/13
The Queen, then the Princess Elizabeth, catches forty winks during an official portrait sitting with her parents, the Duke and Duchess of York. Although the couple look pleased with the new addition to their family, the pose is very formal. It’s likely that William and Kate will opt for a more relaxed feel to a family photoshoot with their new baby (PA)
- 4/13
Little Princess Elizabeth looks delighted as she’s taken for a ride in a carriage in the grounds of Windsor Castle; a frilly baby bonnet framing her face. The picture was taken in 1927 when she was about a year old. Little did she know at that young age that she would grow up to be Queen after the abdication of her Uncle Edward and death of her father (AP Photo/PA)
- 5/13
Princess Margaret looks rather worried in this picture with the Queen Mother, then the Duchess of York, taken in 1930. We’ve seen that furrowed brow a few times on Prince Charles. Perhaps it’s the flash of the camera upsetting the baby. That’s something the child of William and Kate will have to get used to from a very young age. There’s no avoiding the spotlight as heir to the throne (Rex Features)
- 6/13
Princess Margaret looks much happier here selling white heather at a garden fete. What a cute little girl she became with that mop of fair hair. William and Kate’s baby would be lucky to inherit Kate’s lovely thick locks, although William also had a good head of hair as a child but, like his Uncle Edward, began to lose it in his twenties. Prince Charles and Prince Philip are now almost bald, but Kate’s father Michael Middleton still has a good head of hair at 63 (Rex Features)
- 7/13
Princess Elizabeth has the same smile and eyes of her father King George V1 at the age of seven, while Princess Margaret is her mother’s daughter at two years old. If you take away her side curls in this picture, Princess Elizabeth could be son Charles when he was a boy - or even grandson William. Margaret’s face meanwhile changed completely as she got older, looking more like her father and bearing a close resemblance to her niece Princess Anne (PA)
- 8/13
Princess Elizabeth, now all grown up and a mother herself, looks delighted with her firstborn Prince Charles who is six months old in this picture. Prince Philip is very much the proud dad. We recognise those chubby cheeks on Charles. They were passed down to both William and Harry and may emerge again in the new Royal baby (PA)
- 9/13
It’s Princess Anne’s first birthday and here she is pictured wearing a coral necklace while sitting for an official photo with the Queen and brother Charles. Something has tickled all three as they pose for the shot. Princess Anne’s eyes narrow as she smiles –something we see in daughter Zara. She was very fair as a baby possibly as a result of father Prince Philip’s German ancestry. We saw this in Prince William, who also had Diana’s fair genes and it will be no surprise if we see it once again in the new Royal baby (PA)
- 10/13
Prince Edward – the Queen’s fourth child - has the same facial features as his aunt Princess Margaret and the same slightly worried expression that she had so many years before, as he’s photographed in his crib in the Music Room of Buckingham Palace. Here he grips the finger of his four-year-old brother Prince Andrew. No one can deny he was a very cute baby with his little turned up nose, but he looks very different to Andrew – the sturdiest of all the Royal children. Although starting a family later than the Queen, who had her first child at 22, we wonder if William and Kate will follow in her footsteps and have a big brood of children? (PA)
- 11/13
Prince Charles and Diana arrange a photocall for their son William who will be 18-months old in a week’s time. He seems a bit distracted by the cameras as he strolls around the garden in his padded romper suit. Here he resembles both his parents with Diana’s large eyes and Charles’ round cheeks. It’s expected that William and Kate will handle the interest in their baby with regular photocalls at key moments in the child’s life. However, in the age of camera phones and new technology, the new Royal baby will undoubtedly grow up in a more exposed environment – as Prince Harry learned to his detriment while on holiday in Las Vegas! (PA)
- 12/13
The Duchess of York, carrying her daughters Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie in matching pink stripy dresses. The trio are arriving at Corpach, near Fort William, where they boarded the Royal barge to join the Royal yacht Britannia. As a toddler Princess Eugenie bears a striking resemblance to the baby Prince William, although she also has a definite look of her dad Prince Andrew. Sister Beatrice, meanwhile, has inherited her mother’s red hair and looks (PA)
- 13/13
Those sailor suits were back in fashion in the 1980s as Prince William dons one on the balcony of Buckingham Palace watching a flypast, following the Trooping of the Colour ceremony. He’s joined by Lord Frederick Windsor, son of Prince Michael of Kent and Peter Phillips, son of Princess Anne. His mother, Princess Diana holds a baby Prince Harry in her arms who has the same shaped head as his father Prince Charles. Peter Phillips is the spitting image of his sister Zara in this picture and it’s quite clear that Prince William and Harry are brothers. It was only later that they began to look very different.