The Prince and Princess of Wales have marked Father’s Day today by taking to social media to share a lovely “before and after” tribute with their children pictured in happy poses

The Princess of Wales has marked Father’s Day with a heartwarming tribute to William, their children’s “Papa” with touching “before and after” pictures.

Sharing two pictures of Prince William surrounded by his children in Norfolk, the heartfelt caption read: “Happy Father’s Day, Papa (before and after!) We love you! G, C & L.”

The lovely pictures were taken in Norfolk earlier this year by Josh Shinner, according to the tribute posted on X.

Father’s Day today is all a world away from last year, when Kate was still undergoing her chemotherapy treatment following her cancer diagnosis. Months earlier, Kate was admitted to hospital for major abdominal surgery and William immediately cleared his diary to be there for not just his wife, but his three children too.

The Princess of Wales posted a delightful Father’s Day tribute (
Image:
Twitter/@KensingtonRoyal)

He later opened up on a trip to South Africa saying it had been a ‘brutal’ year for the family and one of the hardest of his life as he also dealt with his father, the King’s cancer diagnosis. But 12 months on, and the Waleses are in a very different place, and former BBC royal correspondent Jennie Bond tells the Mirror that this Father’s Day will be one where Kate will especially want to show her appreciation for her husband for all he does as a dad.

She explained: “I’m sure Catherine will want to make a real fuss of William after the year and a half they’ve been through. The truth is, though, that they’ll probably both be rather knackered because Trooping the Colour was the day before! So they’ll probably be spending Father’s Day at home in Windsor – or very possibly with Catherine’s family in Berkshire.

“Last year Catherine posted a beautiful Father’s Day picture of William and the children with their backs to the camera, on a Norfolk beach, staring out to sea.

“It was a touching portrait of a dad with protective arms around his children and I’m sure it represented how grateful the princess was for the rock-solid support and love that William has given her throughout their marriage – but particularly through the emotional turmoil of cancer treatment.”

When it comes to bringing up their children, it has become clear this is more important than anything else to William and Kate. Family nearly always comes first and this was no more so evident than at Easter when the couple decided to skip the traditional Easter Sunday church service with the King and Queen at Windsor to spend precious family time together – all with the King’s blessing.

The pair are also very hands-on with their children, doing the school run and ferrying the kids to their various afterschool sports clubs and activities.

On many royal engagements, William and Kate talk about George’s love of football, Charlotte’s interest in dancing and Louis’ lessons in learning to play the drums. And Jennie believes Kate in particular appreciates how different William is from most royal parents of the past.

She said: “Both he and Harry learned from their mother that parents can be fun and funny, loving and tactile, hands-on and cuddly. Charles was some of these things too, but he was always extremely busy with his work. From the off, though, William has been very obviously hands-on – helping to strap newborn George into the car seat all those years ago (with some trepidation) and sharing all the fun and sleep deprivation of life with a tiny baby.

“Diana once told me that the country was very lucky to have William. I think Catherine is very lucky to have him as well. I think they have put on a united front about their priorities at this stage of their lives: family comes first and sometimes duty has to be put on a bit of a back burner.”

The tight-knit family life that William and Kate have managed to create with their children at their Adelaide Cottage home in Windsor has come all with the blessing of the King. He too has also had to endure receiving his own cancer diagnosis and is still receiving weekly treatment for his condition.

His diagnosis came after he underwent a procedure for an enlarged prostate at the beginning of 2024 and he spent time at the London Clinic at the same time as Kate recovered from her major surgery. As their stays in hospital overlapped, sources revealed the King would ‘toddle’ down the hospital corridors to check in on his recovering daughter-in-law to offer encouragement and support.

And Jennie said: “In this, they have both had the full support of King Charles – and I think Catherine has very much appreciated this attitude from her father-in-law. Their shared cancer journey has also brought them closer together and I think there’s genuine affection between them.

“He refers to her as his beloved daughter-in-law and, in some ways, I think she is the daughter he always wanted. I remember Diana telling me about how much Charles had hoped their second child would be a girl.”