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Prince William’s direct public declaration of love is the latest example of a more emotionally open royal family

Hi everyone, it’s Emily here with my weekly newsletter.

It’s January, it’s freezing here in the UK and, as per tradition, a time when the royal diary is usual fairly empty.

But we were treated to a heartwarming surprise yesterday from none other than Prince William, who shared a beautiful unseen photograph of wife Catherine and a very personal message to mark her 43rd birthday.

It was all rather unexpected given the royals only usually share images for significant birthdays, or those of the Wales children.

And what was even more striking was the future King’s very direct declaration of love for an “incredible wife and mother”.

Now it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that he and his children adore her, but it was the sharing of it on social media that really marked a departure for the Prince, even if he was following his wife’s lead.

Back in June, the Princess shared her own photograph of William, George, Charlotte and Louis leaping over a sand dune in Norfolk, captioned: “Happy birthday Papa, we all love you so much! Cx”

We’ve certainly seen William commenting on sporting acheivements or encouraging his football team Aston Villa with a “#UTV” (Up The Villa!), but this was an altogether more romantic take.

It demonstrated a couple of things for me.