First pictures of prince taken by his grandfather leave observers disappointed

Prince William and his wife Kate released two informal family snapshots as the first official photographs of their son, Prince George, on Tuesday, disappointing fans hoping to get a good look at Britain's newest royal heir.

George, third in line to the British throne, was born on July 22 amid a global media frenzy, reflecting the international popularity of his parents and ongoing fascination with the British royal family.

The couple, known as the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge since their wedding in April 2011, gave the world the first glimpse of their newborn son when they left a London hospital the day after his birth, but he had not been seen since.

However, instead of a traditional formal photograph for George's first official photo shoot, the couple released two shots taken by the duchess's father, Michael Middleton, in early August in the garden of her family home in Berkshire.

One picture shows Prince William, in a blue, open-necked shirt and jeans, with his arm around Kate, dressed in a fuchsia-colored dress and holding their sleeping son wrapped in a crocheted, white blanket.

The second shows the couple sitting on a picnic blanket with Kate again holding a sleeping Prince George. With them is their beloved black cocker spaniel, Lupo, while the Middleton family's golden retriever, Tilly, lolls at one side.

The photographs are a far cry from the formal ones released of Prince William a month after his birth in 1982 in which he was alert and wearing a long, laced gown. The pictures with his mother, the late Princess Diana, and father Prince Charles were taken by his great uncle, photographer Lord Snowden.

In his first interview since the birth, William said George was "a rascal" and admitted that the responsibility of being a father has changed him.

"He's a little bit of a rascal, I'll put it that way," he told CNN in an interview shown on Monday.

"He either reminds me of my brother or me when I was younger, I'm not sure, but he's doing very well at the moment.

"He wriggles around quite a lot," he said. "And he doesn't want to go to sleep that much, which is a little bit of a problem.

"As a few fathers might know, I'm actually quite looking forward to going back to work," joked William, who is second in line to the throne after his father.

The fact that Kate's father, and George's grandfather, took the photographs is a radical departure for the royals, who have traditionally relied on professionals for the first official shots of new additions to the family.

Little is known how much experience Michael Middleton, the British Airways flight dispatcher-turned-businessman, has behind the lens.

Some royal watchers are disappointed that the first photos released of Prince George fail to show his face fully and are not of a professional quality.

But the decision to break with tradition for a more informal approach is seen as true to form for William and Kate, both 31, who have tried to break away from royal traditions of rigid formality, be it by changing diapers themselves or William driving his family away from the hospital.

"They do like to do things in their own way and that is not a bad thing, but in this particular instance they may come in for a bit of flak over this," said Joe Little, managing director of Majesty magazine.

"People would have liked a better look at George and you can't see his face clearly. These are not much more than family snapshots and they are not of a professional standard."

But Martin Keene, head of pictures at the Press Association agency which distributed the shots, said they were impressive.

"Any photographer would have been pleased to have taken them," he said.

Reuters-AFP

(China Daily 08/21/2013 page10)