The Prince and Princess of Wales's eldest son, Prince George is gently being introduced to his role as a future King, and it seems that his willingness to help has stemmed from a young age.
According to The Times' profile on Princess Kate ahead of her 44th birthday on Friday, the young prince, 12, is used to helping with errands.
During an engagement to mark the late Queen Elizabeth II's passing last September, Prince William and Kate met members from a local Women's Institute (WI) group in Sunningdale, Ascot.
Sally Pellow, 64, recalled how she had once served Kate in a French Connection shop in Reading and how, around five years ago, she bumped into a young Prince George in an interior design shop in the area.
"I had popped in to pick up some wallpaper samples and Prince George had gone in with his granny, Carole Middleton," Mrs Pellow said at the time. "He was beautifully dressed and sitting at a desk eating bits of orange."
The WI group also commented on George's sensible demeanour in public, with William joking that while George knew how to behave in public, "behind closed doors it's a completely different ball game".
© GettyKate's parents, Carole and Michael Middleton, are involved grandparents and have often shared childcare duties with the young royals' nanny, Maria Teresa Turrion Borrallo, particularly when George, Charlotte and Louis were little, during times when the Prince and Princess have travelled abroad for royal tours.
"Quiet confidence and maturity"
The Wales children charmed the crowds in Sandringham on Christmas Day as they stepped forward to shake hands and smile for photographs.
One bystander tells HELLO! of George in this week's issue: "He displayed a quiet confidence and maturity. It's crazy to think that he'll be a teenager when he does this next year."
© GettyBut in the lead-up to the festive period, George made another significant appearance as he helped to prepare Christmas lunch at The Passage homelessness shelter – an organisation close to his father William's heart.
© Andrew Parsons / Kensington PalaceThen in November, George accompanied his mother Kate to the Festival of Remembrance at London's Royal Albert Hall, where he watched emotional videos of veterans speaking about their experiences and paying tribute to their lost friends and comrades.
© Alamy Live News.The young Prince also attended a tea party for veterans at Buckingham Palace during the VE Day 80 commemorations in May, where he expressed interest in learning about those who served in the war.
© @princeandprincessofwalesAfter that first major outing in May, royal author Sally Bedell Smith told HELLO!: "I think we'll see more of these kinds of encounters," as she pointed to the fact that the young Princess Elizabeth was only 14 when she gave her first radio address – albeit in 1940, while the country was at war.
"It's still early for George to be doing more but he's being exposed to public life in a pretty intelligent way. They seem to be doing it all very thoughtfully," she said of William and Kate.
