Charlotte was 4 years old and shyly clung to her brother’s hand.
It was September 5, 2019, the first day of school at Thomas’s Battersea in London. George, 6, was starting his third year there. The two posed solemnly in their navy blue and red uniforms, while their parents watched them with that mixture of pride and nerves all parents feel on the first day of school.
That photo became a family tradition. But the comparison now circulating on social media with another image—the same children, now grown, smiling alongside Taylor Swift 🎤—actually dates to June 21, 2024, when Prince William took them to the Eras Tour at Wembley Stadium to celebrate his 42nd birthday. Charlotte, 9, sparkled in pink sequins; George, 10, no longer needed to hold anyone’s hand. Kate couldn’t be there: at that moment, she was undergoing cancer treatment. Five years, and the whole world witnessed how much they had changed. How much has your own child or nephew changed in the same amount of time?