Ringing in another year! The royal family — including Duchess Meghan, Prince Harry, Duchess Kate, Prince William, Duchess Camilla and Princess Eugenie — stepped out on Wednesday, November 14, to celebrate Prince Charles’ 70th birthday.
Inside the Buckingham Palace soiree, Queen Elizabeth II toasted her son. “It is a privilege for any mother to be able to propose a toast to her son on his 70th birthday,” the 92-year-old monarch said. “It means that you have lived long enough to see your child grow up. It is rather like — to use an analogy I am certain will find favor — planting a tree and being able to watch it grow.”
She continued: “My mother saw me turn 70, of course. And she was heard to observe that 70 is exactly the age when the number of candles on your cake finally exceeds the amount of breath you have to blow them out.”
The Queen went on to applaud her son’s accomplishments. “Over his 70 years, [Prince] Philip and I have seen Charles become a champion of conservation and the arts, a great charitable leader — a dedicated and respected heir to the throne to stand comparison with any in history — and a wonderful father,” she noted. “Most of all, sustained by his wife Camilla, he is his own man, passionate and creative.”
She concluded by calling Charles “in every respect a duchy original.”
The brood released two stunning new photos on Tuesday, November 13, of their nearest and dearest to commemorate the milestone occasion. Charles, Camilla, Harry, Meghan, Kate and William were joined by Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis in the sweet shots, taken in the gardens at Clarence House.
They first posed for a formal pic, as the Prince of Wales and his wife sat on a bench with their two oldest grandchildren while the other family members stood behind them. The group also laughed animatedly in a second photo, in which they appeared more at ease with one another.
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