Prince George Celebrates 11th Birthday & Is One Year Away From Embarking On Crucial Royal Protocol

Jul 22, 2024 by apost team

Prince George, the eldest of the Wales kids, is continuing to grow up right before our eyes. George's parents, Prince William and Kate Middleton, have regularly made headlines for their beautiful romance and great parenting techniques for the small prince and his siblings, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis. 

George has already begun showing several aspects of his personality and interests, proving that he follows the royal family line well. And even though his age is still young, George already has some essential responsibilities.

George is King Charles III's first grandchild and he is second in the line of royal succession. If things go as planned, George will become king after his father, the Prince of Wales. He will be England's 43rd monarch since 1066.

The young prince was born on July 22, 2013, making him 11 years old today. Despite his young age, he has already accomplished so much in his life and is set to embark on even more fun journeys and important lessons in the near future.

While 2024 has been a difficult year for the British royal family, there have been moments where they celebrated their success and important milestones. As the royal children had their respective summer holidays from school, George was spotted being in public more with his father and meeting different people from all walks of life — the perfect training ground for a future king. 

As George embraces adolescence at 11, keep reading to learn more about the young royal, his past birthdays and what he's been up to recently. 

At 11, George already has a budding personality, and strong interests and hobbies. He is also a very important figure in the royal family. As George is second in line to the throne and will most certainly be king one day, his birth was a significant event for the royal family and was highly anticipated. 

According to Royal UK, George was born in the late afternoon on July 22, 2013, at St. Mary's Hospital in London. As William and Kate left the hospital the following day, they commemorated the special moment by pausing on the steps of the hospital's Lindo Wing, allowing people to sneak a peek at the new prince.

The Royal Mint, Royal Canadian Mint, and Royal Australian Mint issued commemorative coins to celebrate the prince's birth. The Royal Mint struck lucky by designing the coin after St. George much earlier than George's name was announced, but this was also the first time a royal birth had been marked in this way.

While George's birth was meaningful to the world, it was especially significant to his family members, including the late Queen Elizabeth II. According to Romper, George is lucky enough to have had a nickname for his grandmother, as the two of them were quite close. After all, Elizabeth had many formal names, such as Her Majesty and Head of the Commonwealth. 

George, however, adorably called the queen Gan-Gan. "George is only 2 ½ and he calls her 'Gan-Gan,'" Kate said in ITV's "Our Queen at Ninety," according to Yahoo Entertainment. "She always leaves a little gift or something in their room when we go and stay and that just shows her love for her family."

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In 2021, the queen was sure to wish George a happy 8th birthday, even from a distance. According to an anonymous source cited in an Us Magazine exclusive, the queen "zoomed Prince George to wish him a happy birthday" and "sent him a lovely gift as a surprise." The source added that George "loves his great-grandmother so much."

The Wales family also uploaded a charming video of George on their YouTube account. According to the video, George celebrated the day with his parents. Earlier in the year, he helped celebrate the Prince and Princess of Wales' 10th wedding anniversary. He also previously attended the Euro 2020 final at Wembley Stadium in England and discovered a passion for animals with none other than Sir David Attenborough. After the meeting, the accomplished man gifted the young prince a fossilized shark tooth.

Like his father, George loves airplanes. William was once a full-time RAF Search and Rescue Force helicopter pilot. According to Cosmopolitan, he had been working with East Anglian Air Ambulance, and the family lived permanently at Anmer Hall on the Sandringham Estate during the first few years of George's life. Kate told Lucinda Conder in 2016 that "George is now obsessed with the air cadets and wants to join."

George is as charismatic and kind-hearted as the rest of the Wales household. The official Instagram account for Prince William and Duchess Catherine posted an adorable picture of the young prince for his 9th birthday in 2022. In it, he was beaming at the camera while standing on what seemed to be a beach. Dressed in a light blue polo shirt, Prince George looked like his father with his huge smile. 

Now that George is growing up, he's also making more public appearances with his parents. The young prince is an avid tennis fan, and 2022 was the first time the royal attended the prestigious Wimbledon tournament. George accompanied his mother and father to the men's finals on July 10, 2022, where he was lucky to meet the winner and hold the trophy.

The men's final match was between Serbian player Novak Djokovic and Australian player Nick Kyrgios. Djokovic won the match in four sets, which George must have been delighted about. After George was asked which player he wanted to win that day, he appeared too shy to answer, but William spoke up for him when he whispered "Djokovic," according to The Mirror. He added: "We'll see how long it lasts. He'll support the winner."

Meanwhile, the family was asked where Princess Charlotte was, to which Kate replied, "It's George's treat today." 

George was lucky enough to attend the sporting event again in 2023, days shy of his 10th birthday, and this time, Charlotte was also allowed to join. The royal siblings watched the match between reigning champion Djokovic and Spain's Carlos Alcaraz. The Spanish 20-year-old ended up taking the match in five grueling sets. However, George didn't seem upset that his favorite from last year lost — alongside Charlotte, George erupted in cheers when the umpire called "Game, set, match" in favor of Alcaraz. 

Sadly, in 2024, George wasn't present at Wimbledon to witness the rematch of Alcaraz and Djokovic. His mother Kate, however – who has rarely appeared in public in the past half year – appeared with George's sister, Charlotte, at Wimbledon, and they were met with thunderous applause and a standing ovation. 

Meanwhile, George has been accompanying his father in various public outings. One was the Euro 2024 final in Berlin on July 14, 2024, where he supported the English team against their match with Spain. 

William, the Football Association (FA) president, closely follows the developments of England’s men’s and women’s soccer teams. At the finals in Berlin, William and George met with Spain’s King Felipe VI and his 17-year-old daughter, Infanta (Princess) Sofia of Spain. 

The two young royals met at the VIP Box of the Olympiastadion Berlin, and their meeting went viral on social media. A TikTok video made rounds on social media, capturing William giving Sofia a handshake before George offered his hand, too. 

People gushed about the pair's encounter online. 

“Wow the Infanta Sofia must be the only young European royal that’s met Prince George,” a user said on TikTok. 

“They finally met it would be fun if both spanish and british royal children meet up like how King Felipe and his family had an outing with the british before william was still a kid back then,” another commented. 

“I love that Sofia was the first to move towards George to greet him. She is wonderful,” one said. 

“We should totally get George to marry the eldest princess of Spain and unite our nations and then take over France in the process. Then turn France into a big car park,” another joked. 

Unbeknownst to many, George and Sofia are distantly related to each other. King Felipe’s great-grandmother, Queen Victoria Eugenie of Spain, was born in England as a granddaughter to Queen Victoria, while George is the great-great-great grandson of the late queen. 

Today, July 22, 2024, Prince George officially turns 11. The Prince and Princess of Wales are expected to release a portrait of the future king in the coming days. In 2023, George captivated hearts in his birthday portrait, wearing a checkered polo and blue chino pants as his smile beamed. 

It is important to note that George's age of 11 is crucial in his life as a royal. This is because this is the last year he can travel with his father, Prince William. Once he turns 12, he must stop flying with his father to help ensure the monarchy's future. 

The Mirror reported that as part of an important royal tradition and custom, the second person in line to the throne must travel differently from the first in line. 

"There is an important royal custom in place to secure the future of the monarchy by restricting who can travel together on the same plane," the outlet reported. 

Prince William has had to obey the rule, as did King Charles when he turned 12. 

King Charles' former pilot, Graham Laurie, opened up about the royal protocol on Hello Magazine's A Right Royal Podcast. 

"Interestingly, we flew all four — the Prince (Charles), the Princess (Diana), Prince William, and Prince Harry, up until Prince William was 12 years old," Laurie revealed. "After that, he had to have a separate aircraft and we could only fly all four together when they were young with the written permission of Her Majesty (Queen Elizabeth). When William became 12, he would fly normally in a 125 from Northolt, and we would fly the 146 out with the other three on."

Happy Birthday, Prince George! What are your wishes for the young royal? Let us know, and pass this on to your family, friends and other royal family fans out there!