Father's Day 2020 just so happens to coincide with Prince William's 38th birthday, and to celebrate both occasions the family have shared a bunch of unseen photos on their Instagram page.
Between the rugby tackles, ecstatic grins and hints in the comments there's a lot to unpack from the weekend's uploads, so we've done a bit of digging.
(For those of you who had a slight panic that you'd forgotten Father's Day, breathe, ours is in September. The UK and the US celebrate on the third Sunday in June.)
Okay, back to the photos. Here's what we discovered:
1. Kate is an avid photographer.
"The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are very pleased to share a new picture of The Duke with Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis ahead of The Duke’s birthday tomorrow," Kensington Royal captioned the photo from Sunday.
"The picture was taken earlier this month by The Duchess."
But what that last line fails to mention is that the Duchess of Cambridge isn't your average family photographer, she's actually quite a gun behind the lens.
According to Hello Magazine, Kate’s passion for taking photos began a few years before she went to college. At the time, Kate was put in charge of photographing products for her mom and dad’s company, Party Pieces.
At college, she continued with the passion, and once she joined the Royal family, the Queen made her the patron of the Royal Photographic Society.
Instead of hiring a photographer to take official portraits of her children over the years, she's taken on the job herself.
WATCH: She's currently working on a photography project to capture the spirit of lockdown in Britain. Post continues after video.
In fact her skills have been recognised by many a professional photographer over the years, with The Sun's royal photographer admitting: "Kate is genuinely good at taking portraits. She fills the frame and uses natural light. She has captured some amazing pictures of her children."
2. The pictures were taken at the family's private country home.
Three pictures from Kate's series of the family were released over the weekend, one to celebrate Father's Day and two to celebrate Prince William's birthday.
They were all taken at the family's Norfolk home of Anmer Hall, according to numerous media reports.
Apart from some beautifully manicured grass, a healthy crop of lavender and a child's swing, the pictures don't give too many glimpses away of the young family's notoriously private country estate.
Kate and William moved to the residence - which was gifted to them by the Queen as a belated wedding gift - after Prince George was born in 2013. The couple also owns Apartment 1a at Kensington Palace.
They spent a reported AUD $2.7 million on refurbishing the 18th century 10-bedroom Georgian home, giving it a new roof, kitchen, conservatory and complete redecoration.
According to a recent biography of Prince Charles, the Queen couldn't quite get her head around some of the more modern designs added to the home.
Before George started school in 2017 the family moved back to London, but they pop back over for Christmas and have been isolating there during the coronavirus pandemic.
Besides a few glimpses in video chats of various walls, bookcases and windows during the COVID-19 pandemic, the public hasn't been given any access to the rural royal property.
3. The kids are wearing very affordable designs.
While you might expect little princes and princesses to be decked out in designer threads, the Cambridge kids are, in this photoshoot at least, wearing more than affordable designs.
Prince Louis, two, and Princess Charlotte, five, are both wearing Trotters on their feet, which retail for less than AUD $50.
Prince Louis' polo shirt is even cheaper - currently on sale at Gap Factory for $7.50.
Charlotte's embroidered denim overalls are from John Lewis, and retail for under $20, but they're currently sold out.
Prince George, six, was wearing H&M in the photos - a $10 shirt he also wore to mark his sixth birthday last year in July.
4. Even royals struggle with kid's hair.
In the photos, Princess Charlotte is sporting an intricate plait design in her hair, a style her parents admitted last year to not being very good at despite the little girl's love for it.
"I love your plaits!" Kate told a little girl offering her flowers during an official appearance in 2019, adding that her little girl also loved the hairstyle.
"I tried to do a plait on Charlotte this morning, and it didn't really work very well," she admitted. "Her hair’s only this long so we have to do them at the top.”
Apparently William taught himself how to create hairstyles on YouTube but has only mastered the ponytail so far.
So we guess Kate is stuck with that pesky pleasure?
Feature image: @kensingtonroyal Instagram
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