
For a boy about to say goodbye to his toddler years and whose destiny is to be king, it is a first lesson in royal one-upmanship – and it won't be the last.

After playing second fiddle all week to his younger, dazzling sister Charlotte, Prince George steps into the spotlight for his own close-up. And what a commanding performance he gives.

Today is George's fourth birthday, traditionally a significant milestone along the road from infancy to boyhood. And to mark the occasion a new official photo has been issued by Kensington Palace.

This new image was released to celebrate Prince George's fourth birthday. He was wearing a £42 striped blue shirt from the British children's brand Amaia

It captures all the charm and changing shape – complete with gaps between the milk teeth – that comes with being four years old. The photo, which was taken at Kensington Palace at the end of June, shows just how much he has grown since his last birthday portrait.

Taller and slimmer and with a bright-eyed beaming smile that is so reminiscent of his father at the same age, it is easy to understand why his proud parents were keen to release the picture as George's birthday portrait.

Wearing a collarless striped shirt and a cheeky grin, you recognise instinctively that this is George as his parents see him.

Photographer Chris Jackson, who is married to Kate's personal assistant Natasha Archer, said he was 'thrilled and honoured' to have been asked to take the picture, adding: 'He is such a happy boy and certainly injects some fun into a photoshoot.'

Earlier this week on their foreign tour George was fidgety, shy and tugged distractedly at his father's hand, while Charlotte was acting like, well, a princess. She smiled, she accepted a bouquet of flowers and, bless her, she even performed a wobbly, two-year-old's curtsey.

But yesterday the delightful displays of royal showmanship, played out on the red carpets at airports in Poland and Germany, were reversed.

George (pictured right on Friday in Hamburg) looks strinkingly similar to Prince William (pictured left in 1986) when he was four years old

This time George was centre stage for a pre-birthday treat as he took a peek inside a helicopter – just like the one Dad flies as an air ambulance pilot back home – while Charlotte threw a tantrum after a tumble on the tarmac. Somehow, this was back to the usual domestic order of things in the Cambridge household. For George normally is the polite, well-mannered sibling – and Charlotte the chubby-cheeked mischievous one he tries to keep a kindly eye on.

Like his father, George is destined to become one of the most watched, most photographed and most talked about figures of the century. Already, he has an internet following courtesy of the 'Prince George of Cambridge Fan Club'.

George will come of age in 2031 but it may be decades before he comes to the throne. Even so, tradition will continue and at his coronation, as King George VII, he will be draped in ancient robes and taken by horse-drawn carriage to Westminster Abbey for the time-honoured oaths and historic vows of monarchy.

It is a curious destiny and it is why, when so much of his future is mapped out, his mother and father are determined that he is free to enjoy these early years just like any other child.

Birthdays and anniversaries are as central to their thinking as ensuring the family spend as much time together wherever possible. This was why the couple insisted that when undertaking official engagements overseas the children, if possible, must come too.

Walking hand-in-hand across the tarmac, the Cambridges were given a royal send-off by the CEO of Airbus Helicopters Wolfgang Schoder. The family were all perfectly colour-coordinated in shades of pink and purple

George has been accompanying his parents and little sister on a tour of Poland and Germany

George and his sister Charlotte went to Germany with their parents this week on a whirlwind royal tour

In the process, old royal rules, such as heirs to the throne flying in separate planes, have been relaxed. No one questioned William's decision to travel with both George and Charlotte this week as happened a generation ago when Diana had to accept that her sons could not routinely fly with her and Charles.

Back in 1986, when William turned four, his parents were constantly on and off planes as they travelled to Canada, Japan, Saudi Arabia and Austria. Only once did William and Harry join them – for a holiday in Majorca.

George's first four years have certainly yielded some memorable images. Sitting good as gold at his sister's christening. Attired in the pale gold pantaloons of a pageboy at his aunt Pippa's wedding. Being supervised on a rocking chair by US President Barack Obama, and standing on a pile of books in that landmark photograph of the Queen and three future kings.

William was quite a handful himself at the same age. At nursery school, he became known as 'Basher Wills' or 'Billy the Basher' – although at home it was always Wombat, the family nickname.

Certainly, despite his touch of red carpet timidity this week, George abounds in that same paternal self-confidence at home in Norfolk and at the nearby nursery school he has been attending.

While he does not have the extrovert personality of his father at four, it may be that he has more in common with his paternal grandfather at the same age. Prince Charles was a quiet, shy and thoughtful child, though in possession of exquisite, if rather formal, manners.

George will celebrate his fourth birthday in London after visiting Germany and Poland on a royal tour with his parents

This adorable photograph was taken by the Duchess of Cambridge and released to mark Princess Charlotte's second birthday in May this year

Birthday pictures of Prince George and Princess Charlotte are often taken by their mother. This photo was taken on George's third birthday at the family home in Norfolk

The young Charles was not a complete goody-goody and once slipped an ice cube down an unsuspecting footman's neck.

George's great, great grandfather, George VI – after whom he was named – was also by a nature a reserved boy, prone to tears.

Prince George, of course, is also blessed by the middle-class bloodline of his mother's Middleton family. For all her determination to be a hands-on mother, Kate continues to rely hugely on her own mother Carole and it is her influence that is key in George's early days.

Take, for example, the new school George will start at in September, Thomas's, a family-run £6,100-a-term co-ed in Battersea.

It is no coincidence that at the same age, Kate was sent to mixed St Andrew's School, in Pangbourne, Berkshire. Kate is understood to have warmly approved of Thomas's core values of kindness, courtesy and confidence – and recognised them from her own schooldays.

William's switch from nursery to pre-prep Wetherby at the age of four also coincided with a major upheaval in his life that George will not have to cope with – the loss of his much-loved nanny.

Prince George has a very similar look to a young Prince William, sharing the same blonde hair. Pictured: Prince William on his second birthday in 1984

Prince George at his family's home in Norfolk on his third birthday. This image was shared widely by royal fans this time last year

Prince George offers Lupo the dog an ice cream while sitting on the grass in Norfolk as images were released for his third birthday

Diana used the switch to remove nanny Barbara Barnes from the Kensington Palace nursery. This was due to a fundamental disagreement between the princess and the nanny over the lenient way she thought Barbara was handling William. But it was a profound shock for the young prince, who was devoted to the woman he knew as Ba-ba.

There is no danger of George's Spanish-born Norland nanny Maria Borrallo suffering the same fate. She has been with the family since 2014 and has a strong bond with both children but especially Charlotte, who has the easy-going confidence of many second-born children.

The move from rural Norfolk to London will also mean a change in many of the things George has taken for granted.

He has a curiosity for all things from the natural world. Cows and sheep graze in the pastures near to Anmer, and he adores visits to the Snettisham Farm animal park, petting lambs and running after the ducks.

He is also a great hugger – a chip off his late grandmother's block – and went through a phase of running up to older children and hugging them.

George's grumpy behaviour on the European tour has delighted royal watchers who found the young royal adorable

The Cambridge family will be based at Kensington Palace in London, rather than at their Norfolk mansion Anmer Hall for George's birthday. Pictured: A family portrait from October 2015

Visits to the seaside at Brancaster, where Diana's family used to have a beach hut, will become a less regular treat, although the family will continue to base themselves in Norfolk at weekends and during the holidays.

George's liking for the outdoors is expected to be reflected in today's birthday presents. One family friend made inquiries about a butterfly garden kit (which includes a net and glass container) so George can watch the transformation of chrysalids into butterflies.

There might also be pond-dipping paraphernalia – he is fascinated by the creepy-crawlies in grandparent Middletons' Berkshire pond – and a first microscope. A left-hander like his father, George is good at building objects and construction toys are bound to feature among his gifts.

Other presents may include an addition to his collection of Hornby model trains which the royals joke are 'a lot more reliable than Southern Rail'. Also, a toy walkie-talkie because he likes the real ones his bodyguards use.

Bearing in mind the Middletons run a party-planning business, it's certain that George's tea party will be everything and more a four-year-old can dream of.

After all the excitement of his European travels, George will today wake up in his own bed knowing that the spotlight will be his alone. As he grows older, this is something he will increasingly become accustomed to.

It's all smiles from George as he gets a helicopter tour as a birthday treat in Hamburg

By Tom Kelly in Hamburg

It was a birthday treat fit for a prince – and enough to bring a long-awaited smile to his face.

Prince George beamed with joy yesterday as he excitedly clambered aboard two helicopters.

The aircraft, worth £12million, were arranged as an early birthday treat for 'helicopter crazy' George, who turns four today.

The little royal looked beside himself as he was given a tour of the cockpit and all the controls inside the helicopter. The family are saying Auf Wiedersehen Deutschland after a hugely successful royal tour

Birthday boy! Adorable George was even allowed a turn in the cockpit before leving Hamburg for the UK this afternoon. The three-year-old looked smart in a red check shirt with navy shorts and immaculately-polished booties

They were waiting at the Airbus factory in Hamburg as the family prepared to board a private jet for home at the end of their five-day tour of Europe.

George's delight was a contrast to his glum appearance during the rare moments he was seen in public during the rest of the trip, where he often appeared bored.

Yesterday he seemed beside himself with excitement as William gave him and sister Charlotte a guided tour of the aircraft.

Yesterday George seemed beside himself with excitement as William gave him and sister Charlotte a guided tour of the aircraft

The youngster jumped into the cockpit and, with the help of his father, tried on a helmet. William was seen showing his son how to open and close the door. The duke flies one of the models on display, the H145 helicopter, in his job with the East Anglian Air Ambulance.

Antoine van Gent, head of flight testing at Airbus, said: 'The duke was very relaxed showing his children the aircraft he uses.

'George was excited. With the first helicopter he wanted to sit in the cockpit and then he wanted to sit in the next one – he already knew there was a difference between them. Charlotte asked her mother if she could push a button and the duchess glanced at us and asked if it was OK, and we said yes.'