Even as a child, young Prince George has been a target for outrageous ridicule purely because he was born into the royal family.
But George is growing up -- and is now seven years old. Happy birthday, Prince George!
On Tuesday, July 21, the official Twitter account of Prince William and Duchess Kate shared this wonderful photo of Prince George.
"Sharing a [photo] by The Duchess ahead of Prince George’s seventh birthday tomorrow," the tweet reads.
It's no wonder that the photo is so sweet and precious -- it was taken by his own mother.
On Wednesday, his parents' account shared this adorable pic of the birthday boy.
"Thank you everyone for your very kind wishes on Prince George's birthday today!" the new tweet reads.
We here at THG hope that the birthday prince has had a truly wonderful day!
Just last February, Duchess Kate raved about how amazing it felt to hold George for the first time.
“It is extraordinary, as I’ve said,” she gushed. “How can the human body do that? It is utterly extraordinary, actually."
"And he was very sweet," Kate added. "And I was also sort of relieved that he was a happy, healthy boy.”
She also revealed that, before George made his debut, she and William practiced using a car seat with a doll -- a smart move.
“We were like, ‘What do we do [with the baby] in a swaddle? How’s this supposed to work?’” Kate recalled.
“We’d even tried to practice with … a little doll at home, but you know, it just never works out the way you planned it," she admitted.
Kate continued: "So it was quite hard to do that on the world’s stage."
She added: "But no, [William] did a very good job.”
You want to move your baby smoothly from place to place for their comfort, but as public figures with the world watching, you also want to look graceful doing it.
As we mentioned, despite George's youth, some hateful beasts have said outrageous things about him.
The same vicious British tabloid buzzards that drove Meghan and Harry to flee for California have also taken shots at this literal child.
Why? Because, as part of his education, he learns to dance, and because he ... smiles? (We wish that we were makign this up)
People have gone so far as to decide that George, for these very reasons, must be gay.
We hope that we do not have to explain that speculating about the sexual orientation of a famous child is inappropriate, right? Especially if you're doing so as a negative.
We suppose that a sullen, stoic child would better fit some sick people's ideas of what a royal child "should" act like.
Unfair criticism is part of the unspeakable burden that comes with being born to the Royal Family. George does not deserve it.
At any rate, we hope that Prince George has had a wonderful birthday -- one that he shares with Selena Gomez, we might add.
July 22 is an auspicious day, clearly, and we hope that he had a chance to enjoy just being a kid for a little while, his princely title forgotten for a few hours.