Will Kate Middleton and Prince William release a photo for Charlotte's ... trends now

Princess Charlotte is set to turn nine tomorrow, with royal watchers all over the world eagerly anticipating a new picture of the young royal.

Many are wondering if the Prince and Princess of Wales will share a new snap of their only daughter, following the fallout from Kate Middleton's photoshop scandal earlier this year.

It's believed that the mother-of-three delayed realising a snap of her youngest son, Prince Louis, to mark his sixth birthday last month.

Kensington Palace typically releases portraits of the Wales children early in the morning to mark their birthdays.

However, in a break with tradition, William and Kate shared a photo of their younger son on Tuesday afternoon rather than at midnight on his birthday as is customary with new royal portraits. They also shared an unseen wedding photo to mark their 13th wedding anniversary. 

The Mail's Rebecca English revealed that the couple had initially decided not to issue one at all given their recent appeals for privacy at such an ‘unprecedented’ time for their family, but changed their minds because they wanted to thank fans for their kind wishes to Prince Louis.

And in conversation with The Express royal expert Richard Fitzwilliams added that once they'd decided to release a photo there were likely a lot of discussions about the best approach, given the furore over Kate's edited Mother's Day photo.

Overall, Richard said the timing could 'emphasise Kate's need for time, space and privacy.'

Describing the 'vexed' issue of her Mother's Day portrait, he described the backlash as a  'highly embarrassing contretemps'.

He added that not rushing out a birthday photo of Louis could also 'emphasise her need for time, space and privacy which she expressed so movingly' in the video message revealing she has cancer. 

Earlier this year, the Princess of Wales detailed how the cancerous cells were discovered, while she was undergoing surgery for a different condition in January.

She explained that she had not spoken out about it earlier because she wanted to have time to 'explain everything' to George, Charlotte and Louis and assure them 'I'm going to be ok'.

In March, royal fans went into meltdown after Associated Press issued a 'kill notice' on a photo of the Princess of Wales and her three children that had been released for Mother's Day.

It was the first official photo that was published of Kate after she underwent abdominal surgery in January. 

That evening, the Associated Press became the first agency to 'kill' the photo over an 'inconsistency in the alignment of Princess Charlotte's left hand'.

While AP said there was no suggestion the photo was fake, it retracted it because it said on closer inspection, the source had manipulated the image in a way that did not meet the agency's photo standards.

The following day, the Princess of Wales admitted that she edited the Mother's Day photo herself and apologised for 'any confusion' it had caused. 

A statement from the Princess of Wales said: 'Like many amateur photographers, I do occasionally experiment with editing. 

'I wanted to express my apologies for any confusion the family photograph we shared yesterday caused. I hope everyone celebrating had a very happy Mother's Day. C'

Two weeks later, the Princess of Wales announced she was battling cancer -

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