Facing his future

LIFE IS STARTING TO LOOK VERY DIFFERENT FOR THE YOUNG ROYAL

- By Kylie Walters

Looking happy and at ease, a confident Prince George helped Prince William prepare a Christmas lunch for the homeless at The Passage in London last December.

The moment - a royal quietly learning the ropes beside his parent - echoed a childhood visit William made when Princess Diana introduced him to the charity at age 11.

"I see William passing on those very important lessons of compassion that he learned from Princess Diana to George today," Diana's confidante Paul Burrell tells WHO.

Now 12, George is entering a new chapter, in which childhood and duty will increasingly overlap. While he's long been comfortable waving from the Buckingham Palace balcony during Trooping the Colour or joining the family's Christmas Day walk in Sandringham, 2025 marked a noticeable shift. George undertook several high-profile engagements without his younger siblings, a subtle but unmistakable sign of his position as second in line to the throne.