Prince Louis' Birthday Photographer Shares a Candid Outtake on Instagram

Stephanie PetitFri, April 24, 2026 at 2:15 PM UTC

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Prince LouisCredit: mattporteous/princeandprincessofwales/Instagram -

Photographer Matt Porteous shared a new image of Prince Louis as the young royal turned 8

The snap showed Louis smiling at the camera, appearing to have just gotten out of the water during a recent family vacation

Porteous has gotten behind the camera for some of Prince William, Kate Middleton and their three children's big moments

Prince Louis is heading into age 8 with a big smile.

Kate Middleton and Prince William's youngest son celebrated his eighth birthday on April 23, and the royal couple marked the occasion by sharing a new portrait and a new video of the birthday boy. The new images were taken earlier this month during a family vacation to the seaside region of Cornwall in the U.K., and the video showed Louis digging in the sand, playing cricket, running and more.

The Prince and Princess of Wales tapped one of their go-to photographers, Matt Porteous, to get behind the camera for the shoot. Porteous also marked Prince Louis' birthday by sharing an extra image of the young royal looking up at the camera and smiling, wearing a wetsuit and appearing to have just come out of the water.

Prince LouisCredit: mattporteous/princeandprincessofwales/Instagram

"Happy 8th Birthday, Louis. 😎❤️," the photographer captioned the shot, which was also used as the thumbnail image for the Instagram video shared on William and Kate's page.

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Porteous has snapped Prince William, Princess Kate and their three children — Prince George, 12, Princess Charlotte, 10, and Prince Louis — on many occasions, including family photos that have been used to mark birthdays, Mother's Day, Christmas and other milestones. The photographer has even captured glamorous portraits of the Prince and Princess of Wales at state banquets, sometimes sharing a behind-the-scenes look at the white-tie events that call for ballgowns and tiaras.

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The photographer is also behind the first image of Princess Kate that was released after her cancer diagnosis in 2024 (she has since announced that she is in remission). The snap showed Kate standing with her arms folded while leaning against a tree. Porteous later wrote on Instagram, "I am deeply honoured and grateful to have had the opportunity to capture such a special moment."

Speaking about what it's like to work with the family with Hello! magazine in 2020, Porteous said, "They are a very beautiful family, very caring and very thoughtful. I feel the pressure when I am on those shoots. The first time definitely, the second time...now it's less pressure. But there is pressure in every job."

The Prince and Princess of Wales have a tradition of sharing a new portrait of each of their three children for their birthdays, and Kate (who has called herself an "enthusiastic amateur photographer") has sometimes gotten behind the camera for the annual snaps.

Despite being the grandson of King Charles, Prince Louis only steps into the spotlight a handful of times each year, joining the royals for family occasions such as holiday church outings and Trooping the Colour, the annual public celebration of the monarch's birthday.

Prince William, Kate Middleton, Prince Louis, Prince George and Princess Charlotte at Trooping the Colour 2025Credit: Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty

Prince William and Princess Kate have striven to ensure that their children have as normal an upbringing as possible despite their future royal roles, and a royal biographer recently said that William is committed to avoiding the "spare problem" with his younger children.

"I am told that the heir to the throne, Prince William, is preoccupied with the built-in risk of primogeniture’s cruelty," Princess Diana biographer and former Vanity Fair editor-in-chief Tina Brown wrote in a March installment of her Substack, Fresh Hell. "He is determined that his second- and third-born children, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis, are well-prepared and well-financed for independent lives and will not fall into the same cycle of thwarted freedom."

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