Prince George of Wales turns 12 on July 22 and while the birthday boy is celebrating privately with his family, there’s a reminder of how his arrival was written into the history books.
As his 12th birthday dawned, the UK’s Official Public Record. the London Gazette, reshared its official notification of the birth of a boy destined to be king.
The Gazette’s record of the arrival states it was an extra notification through the use of the word ”extraordinary” and then lays out the simple facts of a very happy event.
The notification says ”This afternoon, at 4.24 o’clock, Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Cambridge was safely delivered of a son at St. Mary’s Hospital, Paddington. His Royal Highness The Duke of Cambridge was present. Her Royal Highness and her son are both well. The happy event will be commemorated by the firing of the Park and Tower Guns.”
The Gazette notification was published in its own extraordinary times for Prince George’s arrival was the first time a future monarch had arrived in a media age where stories moved faster than people. Hundreds of journalists from around the world had been camped outside the hospital, waiting for news and social media meant his arrival was shared millions of times over within minutes.
The little prince made his debut in front of a waiting world the following day when his parents brought him home from hospital. They announced his name – George Alexander Louis – soon afterwards.
Prince George was third in line to the throne at the time of his birth and in direct succession. On the accession of his grandfather as King Charles III, he moved up to second in line and went from being Prince George of Cambridge to Prince George of Wales.
He is currently at Lambrook school but will move to a different school when he is 13. Prince George lives in Windsor with his parents, the Prince and Princess of Wales, and his siblings, Princess Charlotte, 10, and 7 year old Prince Louis.
