ON the morning the boy who will be King was born, I woke at six o’clock to the news the world had been waiting for – Kate had gone into hospital in central London.
Unfortunately, I was staying with friends in Gloucestershire — and I’ve never moved so quickly to get that first snap.
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Now, as the then heir, to the heir, to the heir, turns ten on Saturday, I share my ten favourite photographs of the young prince in this special tribute.
Back on that Monday, July 22, in 2013, I raced to the Lindo Wing at St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington.
Thankfully, I got my trusty ladder in place right opposite the main door — exactly where I had been 31 years earlier when Prince William was born in the summer of 1982.
It was a boiling day and I was in a throng of 70 TV camera crew and dozens of Press photographers who formed a scrum 200 yards long and ten deep.
At 4.25pm the news came — and the Queen knew the future of the monarchy was safe for the next three generations.
Across London at Buckingham Palace, staff posted the official notice that William and Kate now had a baby boy. For the first time in nearly half a century, Britain’s favourite paper changed its name — to The Son — in honour of the baby prince.
Next day we were all back on our ladders to record Kate’s parents, Carole and Michael Middleton, followed by Prince Charles and Camilla, going in to see their first grandchild.
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Shortly before the Prince George was due to make his first ever public appearance, the heavens opened.
We couldn’t escape the downpour because we were all on our ladders and got soaking wet. The next minute the sun came out, along with Catherine, who handed their newborn to William.
The casually dressed couple happily posed for photographs before William strapped the baby into a car seat and, with Catherine also safely in their Range Rover, drove away.
At that moment they resembled any other new parents off to start their family life.
Scroll on to see the rest of my favourite pictures of Gorgeous George.
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CATHERINE looks absolutely stunning with her three-month-old baby, known as Prince George of Cambridge, for his christening at the Chapel Royal at St James’s Palace in October 2013.
And the chubby faced prince looks lovely in the beautiful christening robe that was a replica of the one made in 1841 for Queen Victoria’s eldest daughter.
The Queen and Prince Charles watched proudly as baby George gurgled and posed happily for his first official photo.
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BEING with eight-month-old Prince George on his first foreign tour, to Australia in 2014, was a case of déjà vu for me.
Seeing him mobbed by adoring fans as he looked at a bilby at Sydney’s Taronga Zoo took me back to when a nine-month-old Prince William came off the plane with Charles and Diana at what was then Alice Springs on their first tour Down Under.
Back then, the picture was black and white, but Prince George was in glorious colour.
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THIS is a picture only Catherine could have taken because every time I took a photo of the Duke of Edinburgh he would allow me three frames then he walked off.
He often lost his temper with photographers who dilly-dallied, but with his great-grandson sitting by his side on his favourite carriage in Norfolk, Prince Philip could not have looked happier.
And George seems delighted to be in the Duke’s company.
Catherine may have cut off his feet, but this is a super 2015 photo of a great man who served his country for 70 years and a little boy who hadn’t a clue about how historic this picture would be.
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THIS 2015 picture of Charles, the Queen, William and George was a special commission by the Post Office for a stamp sheet to mark the Queen’s 90th birthday.
Taken in the White Drawing Room at Buckingham Palace, it was vital that all the heads had to be in the correct position for the stamp.
A pile of books was needed to get George up higher. He is smiling because his mum is standing behind the photographer pulling funny faces.
It amused the Queen and the other two royals as well.
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IN May 2015 I was back outside the Lindo Wing when Princess Charlotte was born.
I took this photo of George holding his dad’s hand as he went in to see his sister for the first time.
He looks surprised as he eyes up the hundreds of photographers and must have been wondering what it was all about.
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ANOTHER piece of history for the Windsor archive. Prince George, aged two, stays up past his bedtime to meet US President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle in April 2016.
The photo of George in his PJs and dressing gown was taken by the White House photographer when the Obamas visited William and Kate at home in Kensington Palace.
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I LOVE this photo because George looks so cheeky sucking on a lollipop.
Nowadays we are so used to his younger brother, Prince Louis, doing all the fun pictures.
Here, George, aged three, is coming out of the Middletons’ local church in Bucklebury, Berks, on Christmas Day in 2016.
Kate, William, George and baby sister Charlotte broke with royal tradition and did not attend the Christmas service at the Queen’s Sandringham estate in Norfolk.
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AT the King’s Coronation in May this year Prince George was given a grown-up role as his grandfather’s page.
Taking this picture of him in his red Coronation tunic on the Palace balcony from my position in the forecourt below was the first time I’d ever seen him command other boys.
He knows where the aircraft in the fly-past are coming from and he is pointing them out, saying: “Look, there they are.”
Aged nine, he has done the balcony so many times and knows the drill.
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LESS than a week away from his tenth birthday, George clearly loves his sport.
We know he is a football fan, often going to see Aston Villa with his dad.
But as he cheers on the Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz in the men’s final at Wimbledon, he lets his passion for tennis out with a roar.
I like it because George is the centre of attention here, cheering for the underdog who has just beaten favourite Novak Djokovic.
In his collar and tie, just like his dad, he is unaware that he is being photographed.
His only care is that the player he’s cheering for has won.
The official birthday pictures
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