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Prince George celebrates 1st birthday at home, queen makes cameo

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Prince George celebrated his first birthday on Tuesday with a tea party for the freshest face of the British monarchy.

The firstborn son of Britain’s Prince William and wife Catherine, formerly Kate Middleton, was feted with a gathering at his parents’ Kensington Palace home, according to several reports.

Among the guests were his great-grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, who according to the Telegraph paid the young king-to-be a 50-minute visit, arriving in a Bentley for what was billed as a “low key” celebration.

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Uncle Prince Harry, maternal grandparents Carole and Michael Middleton and their other kids, Pippa and James, attended the party as well as several of George’s seven godparents, including Zara and Mike Phillips, who are William’s cousins, and their daughter Mia, and Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton and Emilia Jardine-Paterson.

Earlier in the day, the duke and duchess of Cambridge reportedly took their birthday boy to Buckingham Palace to spend time with his great-grandfather, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.

George is the third in line to the British throne, behind his father, William. First in line is Prince Charles, a.k.a. Grandpa.

It’s the first time in living memory that a future monarch celebrated his first birthday with both parents present, the newspaper said.

However, George’s paternal grandfather and his wife Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, missed the celebration because of royal duties in Scotland. But that didn’t mean they weren’t part of the commonwealth-wide celebrations: Camilla was given a tweed teddy bear and Charles was given a stuffed red squirrel by well-wishers in Edinburgh to pass along to their grandson.

Westminster Abbey, the location of the duke and duchess of Cambridge’s 2011 royal wedding as well as many other royal affairs, rang its bells in honor of the heir, a tweet on the abbey’s official account said.

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Avid royalists camped out and placed balloons and flags outside the palace, where the family keeps its residence in a newly refurbished apartment.

On Saturday and Monday, Wills and Kate marked the occasion by releasing three new photos of their son walking and chasing butterflies at the National History Museum in early July.

“We would like to take this opportunity on George’s first birthday to thank everyone over the last year, wherever we have met them, both at home and overseas, for their warm and generous good wishes to George and our family,” the Cambridges said in a joint statement Monday.

Long live those cheeks! Follow me on Twitter @NardineSaad.

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