--- title: Princess Charlotte Looks Adorable in Birthday Photo description: Princess Charlotte, daughter of Prince William and Kate Middleton, turned 3 on May 3. See the adorable picture shared by Kensington Palace. canonical: https://time.com/5260034/princess-charlotte-third-birthday-photo/ author: Lena Grossman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-05-02T11:27:27.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:52:31.168Z og:title: See Princess Charlotte Dazzle Like True Royalty in Her Birthday Photo og:description: It's a throwback og:url: https://time.com/5260034/princess-charlotte-third-birthday-photo/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt141e50f32de46710/69892f56656a3f1a8dbd451b/princess-charlotte-third-birthday-photo.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Princess Charlotte in Germany og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: See Princess Charlotte Dazzle Like True Royalty in Her Birthday Photo twitter:description: It's a throwback twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt141e50f32de46710/69892f56656a3f1a8dbd451b/princess-charlotte-third-birthday-photo.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Princess Charlotte Dazzles Like the Royalty She Is in Birthday Photo by [Lena Grossman](https://time.com/author/lena-grossman/) ## Lena Grossman May 2, 2018 11:27 AM UTC  Princess Charlotte of Cambridge arrives at Berlin military airport during an official visit to Poland and Germany on July 19, 2017 in Berlin, Germany. Princess Charlotte of Cambridge arrives at Berlin military airport during an official visit to Poland and Germany on July 19, 2017 in Berlin, Germany.Samir Hussein—WireImage by [Lena Grossman](https://time.com/author/lena-grossman/) ## Lena Grossman May 2, 2018 11:27 AM UTC [Princess Charlotte](http://time.com/4778993/princess-charlotte-photos-william-george-kate-middleton/), the daughter of Prince William and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge and big sister to [Prince Louis Arthur Charles](http://time.com/5192470/royal-baby-name-louis-arthur-charles/), turned 3 on Wednesday, May 2. Kensington Palace shared a sweet photo of Princess Charlotte of Cambridge to celebrate her third birthday. The picture — taken by Kate Middleton, like many of the official photos released of Princess Charlotte and Prince George — is actually a throwback, and was snapped earlier this year on the steps of Kensington Palace. > [](https://twitter.com/RoyalFamily/status/991590506504314880) In the picture, Princess Charlotte is sporting a red coat with matching red shoes and a knitted pink scarf — as well as an adorable smile. Kensington Palace shared a [photo of Princess Charlotte on her second birthday](http://time.com/4761142/princess-charlotte-photo-second-birthday/), which was also taken by Kate Middleton at their home in Norfolk. > [](https://twitter.com/KensingtonRoyal/status/858969414322049024) At just 3, [Princess Charlotte](https://www.royal.uk/princess-charlotte-0) has already had her fair share of royal duties. She was the [bridesmaid at Aunt Pippa’s wedding](http://time.com/4733694/prince-george-princess-charlotte-pippa-wedding/), traveled to Canada in 2016 on an overseas tour with her parents and gave the most diplomatic of waves before [going to meet her baby brother](http://time.com/5251283/royal-baby-prince-george-princess-charlotte-reaction/) Prince Louis at the hospital on the day he was born. In January, Princess Charlotte [began preschool](http://time.com/5086482/princess-charlotte-first-day-willcocks-nursery-school/) at [Willcocks Nursery School](http://time.com/money/5068895/princess-charlotte-wilcocks-nursery-school/), where [core tenets of the curriculum](http://www.willcocksnurseryschool.com/Early-Years-Learning/) include focusing on “literacy, mathematics, understanding the world and expressive art and design.” Just like big brother Prince George and baby brother Prince Louis, Princess Charlotte was born at St Mary’s hospital in London. Princess Charlotte is currently fourth in line to the throne and represents a significant turning point in the [line of succession to the British throne](http://time.com/5238004/royal-family-tree/). The princess maintains her spot as fourth in line, and was not bumped down to fifth [due to the Succession of the Crown Act.](http://time.com/5218422/royal-baby-succession-british-throne/) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5260034/princess-charlotte-third-birthday-photo/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5260034/princess-charlotte-third-birthday-photo/"},"headline":"Princess Charlotte Dazzles Like the Royalty She Is in Birthday Photo","datePublished":"2018-05-02T11:27:27.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:52:31.168Z","description":"It's a throwback","url":"https://time.com/5260034/princess-charlotte-third-birthday-photo/","keywords":["Newsfeed","royals","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt141e50f32de46710/69892f56656a3f1a8dbd451b/princess-charlotte-third-birthday-photo.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lena Grossman","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/lena-grossman/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt141e50f32de46710/69892f56656a3f1a8dbd451b/princess-charlotte-third-birthday-photo.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Princess Charlotte in Germany","caption":"Princess Charlotte smiling with flowers","creditText":"Samir Hussein—WireImage","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5260034/princess-charlotte-third-birthday-photo/","name":"Princess Charlotte Dazzles Like the Royalty She Is in Birthday Photo"}}]}] ```