A FUTURE KING GROWS UP

As Prince George turns 12, we look ahead at the royal heir's bright future and how he'll carve his own path

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If you blinked, you missed it. The tiny hand of newborn Prince George, nestled in the arms of his mother the now-Princess of Wales reached out of his blanket, seemingly waving to the crowds outside the Lindo Wing of St. Mary's Hospital in London.

Millions around the world had waited weeks for a glimpse of the royal heir, born on July 22, 2013 and suddenly, here we are, 12 years later.

On the cusp of teenagehood, the second in line to the throne is showing signs of the monarch he will one day become. We've seen a new maturity in the young prince of late, evidenced by one of his rare solo appearances with his parents the Prince and Princess of Wales at a Buckingham Palace tea party for the VE Day 80th anniversary commemorations in May, when he showed great poise as he interacted with veterans.

At the same time, he's also very much just a regular preteen. “George already knows his destiny, but he's enjoying his childhood,” Dickie Arbiter, press secretary to the late Queen, tells Hello! Canada. “He's enjoying his grandpa [King Charles] doing what he's doing extremely well, following his great-grandmother's [the late Queen's] footsteps, and one day he'll observe his father. But that day is a long way off.”

Despite his royal destiny, George's day-to-day life with his siblings Princess Charlotte, 10, and Prince Louis, 7 is deliberately low-key, thanks to their parents. “We are a normal family,” said Prince William in a 2016 BBC interview to mark Queen Elizabeth II's 90th birthday. “There'll be a time and a place to bring George up and understand how he fits in, in the world. But right now, it's just a case of keeping a secure, stable environment around him and showing as much love as I can as a father.”