By JAMI GANZ | jganz@nydailynews.com | New York Daily News
Kate Middleton and Prince William on Thursday shared a birthday portrait she shot of their daughter, Princess Charlotte, just weeks after Kate took the heat for a Photoshop scandal.
The image shows a smiling Charlotte in a denim skirt, navy top and maroon cardigan, her long, light brown locks flowing as she poses against a hedge boasting bright pink flowers.
“Happy 9th Birthday, Princess Charlotte!” wrote the Prince and Princess of Wales. “Thank you for all the kind messages today.”
Last week, the couple shared a portrait of Prince Louis, also taken by Princess Kate, with a nearly identical message to commemorate his sixth birthday. She and William also share 10-year-old Prince George.
Back in March, the royals released the first official image of Kate in months, following a “successful” abdominal surgery she’d undergone in mid-January. The photograph, which showed the princess with all three children for U.K. Mother’s Day, was confirmed to have been manipulated. Kate took the fall and the image was quickly pulled from media outlets as a result.
Though Kensington Palace announced at the time she would unlikely appear at royal events until after Easter, her father-in-law, King Charles, had occasionally appeared out and about following their simultaneous hospitalizations and the latter’s cancer diagnosis.
The scandal further fueled conspiracy theories about Kate’s well-being and whereabouts. The speculation came to a head later in the month when Kate released a somber video announcing that the surgery had turned up cancer.
Kate also announced at the time she was heeding medical advice and undergoing preventative chemotherapy. The decision to remain under the radar, she noted, was so that she and William could figure out how to tell their young kids about her diagnosis.
