Today is Princess Charlotte’s eighth birthday. Her mother, the Princess of Wales, did a photoshoot with Charlotte in the past week in Windsor, and this photo was released on Monday. It made the cover of most of the British papers and tabloids, so I think Kate released it to the press early. Unlike Louis’s birthday pics this year, Kate didn’t hire an outside photographer, she snapped this one herself. Curious.

Anyway, Charlotte is perfectly cute. I appreciate the fact that this photo isn’t filtered to hell and back – one of the birthday photos in years past was filtered, and it was such an odd thing to do to a kid’s pic. Please don’t argue in the comments about who Charlotte takes after, for the love of God. We’ll see Charlotte at her grandfather’s coronation on Saturday, although she does not have a formal role as a page, she is expected to be front-and-center with her parents.

Meanwhile, there was a sighting of Kate, Charlotte and Charlotte’s friends over the weekend – Kate apparently took a gaggle of little girls to the Saturday performance of Cinderella at the Royal Opera House in London. It was performed by the Royal Ballet and National Ballet of Canada.

Photos courtesy of the Princess of Wales/Kensington Palace, Backgrid, Avalon Red and Cover Images.