Second in line to the throne, the Duke of Cambridge is celebrating his birthday on June 21.
20 June 2022
Forty photos charting the Duke of Cambridge’s life have been compiled to celebrate his 40th birthday.
William, who reaches the milestone on Tuesday, is pictured through the years from his debut as a newborn baby in his mother’s arms and as a toddler trying to walk, to his role as a family man and future king.
The images, from the PA news agency’s photo archive, show the second in line to the throne on family holidays with the Prince and Princess of Wales and playing bicycle polo with Prince Harry.
He is pictured studying at university, in his military uniform at Sandhurst and as an air ambulance helicopter pilot.
Among the images is one of William on his first official royal tour when he joined his parents on a six-week trip to Australia and New Zealand when he was just nine months old in 1983.
In 2006, he is captured smirking as his grandmother the Queen makes a remark while inspecting him and his fellow cadets during a passing out parade at Sandhurst.
Times of joy show William announcing his engagement to his former university flatmate Kate Middleton, now the Duchess of Cambridge.
The newlywed pair took to the Palace balcony on their wedding day in 2011, and introduced their first born, Prince George, to the world outside the Lindo Wing at St Mary’s Hospital in London in 2013.
But William has also experienced great sadness, with the death of Diana, Princess of Wales in a car crash in 1997.
The duke and his younger brother the Duke of Sussex, who have a long-reported rift, came together briefly last year to unveil the statue they commissioned in her honour.
Other photos from over the years show William in a camouflaged military helmet tackling an assault course during a Sport Relief mile run in 2006, trying out a motorbike at the Isle of Man TT in 2018 and on tour with Kate to Pakistan in 2019.
Prince William Arthur Philip Louis of Wales was born second in line to the throne at St Mary’s Hospital, Paddington, at 9.03pm on June 21 1982.
He weighed 7lb 1oz and was the firstborn son of the Prince and the Princess of Wales.
William was made the Duke of Cambridge by the Queen on the morning of his wedding.
He is expected to become King William V when he eventually accedes to the throne as monarch.
