Prince George turned 13 on July 22, 2026. Kensington Palace marked the day with a new portrait of the future King — relaxed, hands in his pockets, in an open-necked white shirt and a dark navy suit, taken by family photographer Matt Porteous on the staircase at Kensington Palace just weeks after Trooping the Colour. It’s his last birthday portrait before he starts at Eton College this September.
Quick facts:
- Born July 22, 2013, at the Lindo Wing, St Mary’s Hospital, London.
- Photographer: Matt Porteous · Location: Kensington Palace.
- Outfit: navy suit, white shirt, no tie (his Trooping the Colour suit, restyled)
- Starts at Eton College in September 2026.
It’s a quieter image than last year’s outdoor gate portrait, and that feels intentional. No ceremonial tie, no formal backdrop — just George, looking every inch his father’s son, on the cusp of the biggest change of his young life: this September, he trades Lambrook for Eton College, following William’s own path to the school just down the road from Windsor.
Prince George’s 13th Birthday (2026): The New Portrait & What He Wore
Prince George’s 13th birthday portrait, released July 22, 2026, shows him in a navy suit, white shirt open at the collar, no tie, hands in his pockets, on the staircase at Kensington Palace. Taken by Matt Porteous just weeks after Trooping the Colour, it’s the most grown-up of the thirteen — quieter, more composed, and just a little bittersweet, given what’s coming this September.
For a photo this quiet, the outfit is doing a lot of the talking. George is in the same navy suit and white shirt he wore for Trooping the Colour on June 13 — but styled down for the occasion. Gone is the pale blue tie he wore on the Buckingham Palace balcony that day, coordinated to match Kate’s Catherine Walker coat dress; here, the shirt is left open at the collar. It’s a small styling choice that does a lot of work — the difference between “future King on official duty” and “thirteen-year-old on his actual birthday.”
The suit itself hasn’t been officially identified for this specific portrait, so we won’t claim a confirmed ID. What we do know: it’s the same suit he wore just ten days earlier for the Wimbledon Gentlemen’s Final on July 12 — where we linked it as a Saville Row Company Boys Navy Suit & Striped Tie. That’s the closest match in time and our own best styling read, not a palace-confirmed brand — worth noting, since a suit spotted at Trooping the Colour 2025 (when George was 11) was confirmed via a carriage-window label as a Ralph Lauren Polo Wool Twill Suit, but that’s a full year and a growth spurt removed from what he’s wearing now. We’ll update if an official ID for this suit surfaces.
One more detail we’re tracking: no friendship bracelet in this photo, a first in a few years. George wore one at both his 11th and 12th birthday portraits — worth watching whether that was a one-off omission or a genuine style shift heading into his teens.
Shop The Look
- Suit & Tie combo: Saville Row Company Boys Navy Suit & Striped Tie (worn July 12 at Wimbledon — same suit, styled without the tie for this portrait)
- Shirt: Classic white cotton dress shirt, boys’ tailored fit.
Every Prince George Birthday Portrait, Year by Year
Now for the fun part — here’s every one of George’s birthday portraits before this one, from his first in 2014 to his twelfth last year.
Prince George’s 1st Birthday (2014): Striped Dungarees
Prince George’s 1st birthday portrait, released in July 2014, showed him mid-toddle in blue-and-white striped dungarees over a navy polo, arms flung out for balance, with Prince William laughing just behind him. Before he could talk, he’d already given us the gummy, dimpled grin that would become a running theme.
Prince George’s 2nd Birthday (2015): Smocked Whites With William
Prince George’s 2nd birthday portrait, released in July 2015, is a candid, sun-drenched shot with William at what looks like a golf outing — George in a smocked white shirt with red embroidery, caught mid-laugh in his father’s arms. Read our original coverage of George’s earliest wardrobe moments and the day the world first met him.
Prince George’s 3rd Birthday (2016): Striped Tee and Denim Shorts
Prince George’s 3rd birthday portrait, released in July 2016, shows barefoot energy in a blue-striped tee with a contrast pocket and denim shorts, arms outstretched on a garden bench. Simple, playful, unmistakably toddler.
Prince George’s 4th Birthday (2017): The First Studio Portrait
Prince George’s 4th birthday portrait, released in July 2017, was his first formal studio shot — set against charcoal grey, in a blue-and-white striped collarless shirt, gap-toothed and grinning ear to ear. It’s the first hint of the more posed, “official” portraits to come.
Prince George’s 5th Birthday (2018): Brick Wall, Piped Polo
Prince George’s 5th birthday portrait, released in July 2018, shows him back to brick and daylight: a crisp white piped polo with navy trim, hands tucked in his pockets against a weathered brick wall. That stance — hands in pockets, easy smile — would become something of a signature, and it’s exactly how he’s standing again this year for his 13th.
Prince George’s 6th Birthday (2019): Holiday Green Polo
Prince George’s 6th birthday portrait, released in July 2019, is pure holiday mode: a forest-green polo and striped shorts, caught in dappled sunlight. A softer, more relaxed George than the studio shots around him.
Prince George’s 7th Birthday (2020): Camouflage and a Chipped Tooth
Prince George’s 7th birthday portrait, released in July 2020, is a candid, over-the-shoulder shot in camouflage print, windswept hair, that famous chipped-tooth grin on full display outdoors.
Prince George’s 8th Birthday (2021): On the Land Rover
Prince George’s 8th birthday portrait, released in July 2021, shows him perched on the hood of a Land Rover Defender in a navy-and-orange striped polo — a detail royal watchers noted as a quiet nod to his late great-grandfather Prince Philip, who was famously devoted to the vehicle.
Prince George’s 9th Birthday (2022): Beachy and Sun-Lit
Prince George’s 9th birthday portrait, released in July 2022, is a beachy, softly lit close-up in a dusty blue polo, sun on his face, looser and more natural than the earlier studio work.
Prince George’s 10th Birthday (2023): First Double Digits
Prince George’s 10th birthday portrait, released in July 2023, shows him crouched on a stone staircase in a checked shirt with rolled sleeves, teal trousers, and boots — his first double-digits portrait, and a noticeably more grown-up pose.
Prince George’s 11th Birthday (2024): Black-and-White, Shot by Kate
Prince George’s 11th birthday portrait, released in July 2024, was a black-and-white portrait taken by his mother, Catherine, Princess of Wales — white shirt, dark suit, and a friendship bracelet on one wrist, leaning back against a wall with real ease in front of the camera.
Prince George’s 12th Birthday (2025): The Norfolk Gate
Prince George’s 12th birthday portrait, released in July 2025, shows him leaning on a wooden gate in Norfolk, in a checked shirt with rolled sleeves under a dark green fleece gilet, a blue-and-white friendship bracelet still on his wrist. Taken by photographer Josh Shinner, it’s the last portrait before this year’s noticeably taller, teenage George.
The Countdown to Eton
This birthday carries a bit more weight than most. George finished his final term at Lambrook, the Berkshire prep school where he sometimes boarded, and will start at Eton College in September — the same all-boys school his father and both of his great-uncles attended, and one of the most storied institutions in Britain. It’s the clearest marker yet that the “future King” era of George’s childhood is quietly giving way to something else: independence, distance from home, and — if William’s own Eton years are anything to go by — a lot more of George making his own choices about how he shows up in the world, sartorially included.
We’ll be here for all of it. Happy birthday, Prince George!
Frequently Asked Questions
Prince George was born on July 22, 2013, and celebrates his birthday every July 22.
Prince George turned 13 on July 22, 2026.
Matt Porteous, the Prince and Princess of Wales’s longtime family photographer, took the portrait at Kensington Palace shortly after the 2026 Trooping the Colour.
He’s wearing the same navy suit and white shirt he wore to Trooping the Colour in June 2026, styled without the pale blue tie he wore that day.
Prince George is starting at Eton College in September 2026, following in his father Prince William’s footsteps.
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Images: Kensington Palace / The Prince and Princess of Wales, and press wire services.
