King Charles III has wished his eldest son, the Prince of Wales, a happy 41st birthday.
The monarch shared a sweet photograph of himself and Prince William on Twitter and wrote: “Wishing the Prince of Wales a very happy birthday today!”
The picture shows the pair laughing with one another as the younger royal helps his father pin a cloak.
This year marks William’s first birthday as the Prince of Wales, as he was given the title last September following the death of his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II.
The title was previously held by Charles, who appointed it to William after he ascended the throne.
During King Charles’s coronation on 6 May, William became the only blood prince to swear loyalty to the sovereign and gave an oath of allegiance.
He knelt before his father after St Edward’s Crown was placed on Charles’s head and said: “I, William, Prince of Wales, pledge my loyalty to you and faith and truth I will bear unto you, as your liege man of life and limb. So help me God.”
The prince recently revealed plans to build social housing on the Duchy of Cornwall’s land, which he now controls, as part of his new project to tackle homelessness in the UK.
He told The Sunday Times that he is planning to launch a five-year project, but details are being kept under wraps until the end of the month.
William is the patron of Centrepoint, a charity that helps homeless young people. Before his 40th birthday last year, he pledged to continue “shining” a light on the “solvable issue” of homelessness and has also introduced his children to charities supporting rough sleepers.
Thanks to his late mother, Diana, Princess of Wales, William was exposed to the issue at an early age. She took him to a homeless shelter when he was 11 to give him a better understanding of what people sleeping on the streets face.
Over the weekend, William also celebrated Father’s Day. The royal family released a photograph of him with his three children, Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis surrounding him.
The happy picture shows George, nine, and Charlotte, eight, beaming up at their father, while Louis, five, wrapped his arms around his father’s neck and pressed his cheek to William’s temple.
While William received a birthday wish from his father, he is unlikely to receive one from his only brother, Prince Harry, amid their ongoing rift.
The Duke of Sussex has aired a number of grievances against the royal family in recent years through, interviews, a Netflix docuseries, and his memoir, Spare.
In his book, which was released in January, Harry said that the brothers’ rift began before he met his wife, Meghan Markle. When the Sussexes stepped down as members of the royal family, Harry and William’s relationship is understood to have deteriorated further.
Harry wrote that there had “always been this competition between us, weirdly. I think it plays into this heir-spare” dynamic. He labelled William his “beloved brother and archnemesis”.
Meanwhile, William has not commented publicly on Harry’s memoir, but was reportedly “upset” by its publication.
Additional reporting by PA
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