How Kate Middleton is making sure Princess Charlotte doesn’t 'grow up too quickly'

Princess Charlotte recently celebrated her tenth birthday, with the Prince and Princess of Wales sharing her sweet birthday portrait to Instagram to mark the occasion. However, despite her young age she's taken to life as a royal like a duck to water and is already known for her confidence.

The Princess is often praised for her immaculate behaviour during royal occasions, and she’s been spotted on numerous occasions keeping her two brothers, Prince George and Prince Louis, in check while out in public.

Still, one royal expert has revealed that Kate Middleton is keen to stop Charlotte from growing up “too quickly” and relies on one simple and easy trick to make sure that the family and public “stay very true to her age and respect it”.

Eagle-eyed fans may have already noticed how Kate does this, but Hello!'s Fashion and Beauty News Editor, Laura Sutcliffe, recently pointed out that while Charlotte is often seen experimenting with new hairstyles, she is most often spotted in very age-appropriate plaits.

She explained, "Charlotte has always been a big fan of plaits and has worn plaited hair throughout most of her public appearances as a royal. It's always lovely to see Princess Charlotte's hair looking so neat, tidy, and pretty at the same time."

"I think it's great to see a girl of her age experimenting with plaits and having fun with her hair,” she added. “Lots of people complain that young girls grow up too quickly and do things that are too grown up with their hair, but Charlotte and her family stay very true to her age and respect it."

Her many braided hairstyles always look beautiful, but from comments Kate has made in the past about doing Charlotte’s hair, it seems that the behind-the-scenes of getting them to look perfect involves a lot of struggle.

Back in 2019 during a public appearance in Cumbria, Kate was heard speaking to a young girl with French braids in her hair. And according to Harper's Bazaar, she was overheard telling the youngster, “I love your plaits! I tried to do a plait on Charlotte this morning, and it didn't really work very well.”

Prince William has also admitted previously that he’s not the best at styling his daughter’s hair. “Never try to do a ponytail," he said during a 2019 visit to Blackpool.

When Kate teased him, saying, "Have you tried to do a plait? It’s the weaving…really hard", he replied, "I can do [Charlotte’s] ponytail, but that’s about it as I don’t have enough hair to practice on!"

While Kate is keen to keep Charlotte’s look age-appropriate, there are ways that Charlotte is growing into a more “tween” style, as we saw with her fun strawberries and cream pink manicure earlier this year at Wimbledon.

Speaking about Charlotte’s developing sense of style, style editor Bethan Holt told People that many of her more recent outfits show that “she's transitioning from a sweet little girl in smocked floral dresses to a slightly more grown-up tween vibe,” with her favouring prints and patterns like her mum’s favourite polka dots.