Prince George is celebrating his 12th birthday today, and to mark the special occasion, a new portrait of the young royal has been released by Kensington Palace. While Princess Kate has often stepped behind the camera herself to take her children’s birthday portraits, this year she has relied on Josh Shinner to take the photograph.
This marks the third time he has worked with the Prince and Princess of Wales as he previously took the family’s 2023 Christmas card and Prince Louis’ 7th birthday portrait. The decision to hire a trusted snapper this year may be because of the backlash the Princess received after she shared an edited photograph of her posing with her three children for Mother’s Day.
As he has been granted this latest royal honour, we reveal more about the Yorkshire-born photographer who is clearly a hit with the Waleses.
With an eye for how to take an impressive portrait, it is also likely that William and Kate will use Josh’s photography services again in the future. This is likely to mean a lot to Josh, who started out in photography at the age of 17.
The photographer’s love for his hobby developed further at university, with Josh having previously said his mum taking wonderful pictures during his childhood was a great inspiration for him.
In a previous interview with Harper’s Bazaar magazine, he said: “My mum has a great eye and she used to take wonderful pictures of us as kids. Some of that obviously rubbed off, as I remember the joy of getting films back from Boots fairly early on in life – no doubt with some very average holiday snaps on.
“It was at university that I realised I could get in to see my favourite bands for free if I just took photographs, which felt like a pretty good deal, so that’s when I really got into it.”
While his first photography job was photographing a garden party at a nursing home while working for a local paper, it seems the photographer’s career has only gone from strength to strength over recent years.
As well as photographing Prince William, Princess Kate, Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis, Josh has also worked for a number of celebrities including Andrew Scott and Take That.
Since the release of the portrait of Prince George taken by Josh today, the photographer has received plenty of compliments. On the couple’s Instagram post, one fan wrote: “Prince George is growing up to be a fine young man. And he looks so much like his Papa! A very happy birthday to him!”
A second added: “Happy 12th Birthday Prince George, what a fine man you have grown up to be.” A final said: “Happy birthday, Prince George! Gorgeous photo.”