It’s been seven years since a little boy was born and made royal history, but to his mama, Prince George isn’t history—he’s the smiling boy right in front of her.

The royal tradition used to be staged, professionally shot portraits released for milestone moments but Kate Middleton loves photography almost as much as she loves her kids and takes lovely candid shots of the young royals, including the pics she just released for her oldest’s birthday.

data-instgrm-captioned data-instgrm-version="4" style=" background:#FFF; border:0; border-radius:3px; box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width:658px; padding:0; width:99.375%; width:-webkit-calc(100% - 2px); width:calc(100% - 2px);">


“Thank you everyone for your very kind wishes on Prince George’s birthday today!” the royals’ team captioned the second photo of George, in which he can be seen sporting a very casual camp t-shirt and messy hair. He looks like any 7-year-old-boy through the lens of his mama’s camera.

data-instgrm-captioned data-instgrm-version="4" style=" background:#FFF; border:0; border-radius:3px; box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width:658px; padding:0; width:99.375%; width:-webkit-calc(100% - 2px); width:calc(100% - 2px);">

Happy birthday to George, and cheers to your mama for always getting such great candid shots!