A previously unseen photograph of Princess Kate and Prince William taken on their wedding day in 2011 has been released by Kensington Palace to mark the couple's 13th wedding anniversary on Monday.
William and Kate married in a large-scale royal wedding ceremony at Westminster Abbey on April 29, 2011. The release of the archive photograph comes as the Kate continues her absence from the public eye while undergoing treatment for cancer.
Uploaded to the couple's official social media channels on Monday, the black and white portrait was taken in one of the state rooms at Buckingham Palace where their wedding reception took place. Kate is dressed in her Alexander McQueen wedding gown and William in his frockcoat uniform of the Household Cavalry.
Captioned "13 years ago today!" the posts attribute the image to the photographer, Millie Pilkington.
Pilkington has taken a number of royal portraits over the course of her career and most recently undertook a sitting with King Charles III and Queen Camilla at Buckingham Palace earlier this month, to mark their 19th wedding anniversary.
The portrait was released on April 26 to accompany the announcement that the king will shortly return to work after being diagnosed with an undisclosed form of cancer in February.
Pilkington did not take the official portraits for William and Kate's wedding. Established royal photographer Hugo Burnand undertook the formal sitting in the throne room of Buckingham Palace with the bride, groom and close members of their family, including Queen Elizabeth II.
Burnand had been tasked with taking the official wedding portraits of Charles and Camilla back in 2005. He also won the commission of their coronation portraits in 2023.
The release of Pilkington's portrait of William and Kate suggests that the couple may have engaged her privately to take a series of personal images which were not intended initially for public release.
Unlike the birthdays of William and Kate's three children—Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis—the couple do not always release photos to mark their own milestones.
However, any potential photo release from the couple has taken on increased public anticipation this year as the princess has been out of the public eye while experiencing health challenges.
Fans hoping for a new portrait of Kate to mark the anniversary will be disappointed as it would have been the first since the announcement of her cancer diagnosis and preventative chemotherapy treatment back in March.
Prior to the announcement on March 22, conspiracy theories spread across social media as to the royal's whereabouts with a persistent theme questioning whether she was missing.
The princess is expected to return to public duties only after her treatment and recovery have progressed upon the advice of her doctors.
In her health announcement, the royal said: "We hope that you will understand that, as a family, we now need some time, space and privacy while I complete my treatment. My work has always brought me a deep sense of joy and I look forward to being back when I am able, but for now I must focus on making a full recovery."
James Crawford-Smith is Newsweek's royal reporter, based in London. You can find him on X (formerly Twitter) at @jrcrawfordsmith and read his stories on Newsweek's The Royals Facebook page.
Do you have a question about King Charles III, William and Kate, Meghan and Harry, or their family that you would like our experienced royal correspondents to answer? Email royals@newsweek.com. We'd love to hear from you.
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James Crawford-Smith is a Newsweek Royal Reporter, based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on the British royal family ... Read more
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