The Queen has penned a heartfelt tribute to Kate Middleton for her 40th birthday.
In a message posted from the Royal Family’s official Instagram page, the monarch shared a series of touching photos of herself alongside the Duchess of Cambridge.
The message reads: “Wishing the Duchess of Cambridge a very happy 40th birthday today!”
The first image shows the Queen and her granddaughter-in-law sat next to each other during the Diamond Jubilee tour at Vernon Park in Nottingham in 2012.
Another shows the Duchess of Cambridge, her husband and the Queen standing alongside each other on the Buckingham Palace balcony at Trooping the Colour in 2016.
Father-in-law Prince Charles sent Kate his best wishes to mark the special occasion.
Posting from the Clarence House Instagram page, he wrote: “Wishing The Duchess of Cambridge a very happy 40th birthday today.”
The post was shared alongside three more photos of Kate.
The duchess is likely to be celebrating her birthday as a private family affair at the Cambridges’ home in Norfolk.
During the past decade Kate’s life has changed immeasurably.
She is now the mother of three children - Prince George and his siblings Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis.
She has joined William on a number of foreign engagements, visiting Australia and New Zealand in 2014 and India two years later.
She made her first official solo overseas trip in 2016 to the Netherlands, meeting the nation’s monarch King Willem-Alexander.
A year earlier the duchess attended her inaugural state banquet at Buckingham Palace hosted by the Queen in honour of the visiting Chinese President Xi Jinping.
During the pandemic the duchess’ creative side came to the fore and she launched her Hold Still photographic competition and exhibition, which has produced a book of images taken by the public documenting life in lockdown.
