New Prince Louis Photos for His Second Birthday

For his second birthday on April 23 (Thursday), Kensington Palace shared new and almost painfully adorable photos of Prince Louis, writing: "We are pleased to share images ahead of Prince Louis’s second birthday tomorrow, taken by The Duchess this April." The photos show the tiniest royal finger-painting and looking totally stoked to it (ugh, now I want to finger paint). Louis is much bigger than I remembered, and in other news, I am old!

A post shared by Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (@dukeandduchessofcambridge)

Even better: Prince Louis is apparently supporting the NHS, the U.K.'s National Health Service, which is at the very front lines of the coronavirus pandemic, reports royal correspondent Roya Nikkhah. The rainbow colors are a sign of support for the NHS, says Nikkhah.

It looks like Kate Middleton took the photos of Louis on the same day that her kids recorded a sweet video showing the little royals applauding the NHS:

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See? Louis is wearing the same shirt! So, basically, the Cambridges came up with a whole day of at-home activities to support the National Health Service, which feels like a very William and Kate thing to do in isolation, actually.

Also, this pose is a mood:

united kingdom, undated this photograph must not be used after 31st december 2020 without prior permission from kensington palace mandatory credit the duchess of cambridge in this undated handout photo issued on april 22, 2020 by kensington palace and taken by catherine, duchess of cambridge, prince louis paints a rainbow with watercolors earlier this month news editorial use only no commercial use no merchandising, advertising, souvenirs, memorabilia or colourably similar this photograph is provided to you strictly on condition that you will make no charge for the supply, release or publication of it and that these conditions and restrictions will apply and that you will pass these on to any organisation to whom you supply it there shall be no commercial use whatsoever of the photographs including by way of example only any use in merchandising, advertising or any other non news editorial use the photographs must not be digitally enhanced, manipulated or modified in any manner or form and must include all of the individuals in the photograph when published all other requests for use should be directed to the press office at kensington palace in writing note to editors this handout photo may only be used in for editorial reporting purposes for the contemporaneous illustration of events, things or the people in the image or facts mentioned in the caption reuse of the picture may require further permission from the copyright holder photo by the duchess of cambridgekensington palace via getty images

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Jenny is the Digital Director at Marie Claire. A graduate of Leeds University, and a native of London, she moved to New York in 2012 to attend the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. She was the first intern at Bustle when it launched in 2013 and spent five years building out its news and politics department. In 2018 she joined Marie Claire, where she held the roles of Deputy Digital Editor and Director of Content Strategy before becoming Digital Director. In her spare time, she writes fiction: her first novel EVERYONE WHO CAN FORGIVE ME IS DEAD was published in February 2024 and became a USA Today bestseller. She has also written extensively about developmental coordination disorder, or dyspraxia , which she was diagnosed with when she was nine.