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Though they hold the responsibility, burden and privilege of being part of the monarchy, the royals enjoy things any other family would too.
A love for the outdoors is certainly top of the list, as evidenced this week by the moving video released by the Princess of Wales.
Announcing that she has finished her course of ‘preventative chemotherapy’, Catherine was seen with Prince William and their children Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis in the countryside near their home in Norfolk.
The three-minute clip opens with a shot of the couple walking with their children amidst a stunning backdrop of trees and long grass, and later shows Charlotte handing out playing cards.
Kate is then seen handing out food to her husband and children as they enjoy a picnic on a blanket.
The clip was strikingly reminiscent of a scene that was captured 64 years earlier, showing the late Queen Elizabeth spending time with her family on picnic blankets.
Princess Kate having a picnic with her family in video footage released to announce she had completed her chemotherapy treatment
The princess playing card games with her two sons, Prince George and Prince Louis, sat by her side on picnic blankets
The late Queen Elizabeth with Prince Philip, Prince Charles, Princess Anne and Prince Andrew sitting on picnic blankets at Balmoral in 1960
In the footage from 1960, before Prince Edward was born, the Queen was seen with Prince Philip and their children – Prince Charles, Princes Anne and Prince Andrew – on the lawn outside Balmoral.
It was during six-month-old Andrew’s first holiday to the Queen’s beloved Scottish residence.
The black and white film shows the family sat on strikingly similar blankets to what the Wales’s used, with Balmoral Castle in the background.
The late monarch spending time outdoors with her family in footage filmed in August 1960
Princess Charlotte playing with cards while Prince William sits beside her chatting to Prince Louis
Kate smiling with Charlotte as they sit outdoors in Norfolk
It opens with a scene almost identical to Kate’s video – the Queen and her family walking together to the picnic blankets.
The camera pans to the late Duke of Edinburgh holding Andrew on his knee, echoing William who also holds his youngest son Louis in a loving embrace while sat on the blanket.
Charles, who would have been 11 at the time, sits with his mother and they both smile. Similarly, Kate is shown hugging her eldest child George.
In the 1960 clip, the family appear to be entertained by a bouncing baby Andrew, while the Wales’s play a game together and laugh.
Both videos, despite being filmed decades apart, echo similar values of spending time outdoors seems and it seems to be a tradition that Kate and William are continuing with their own children.
The key difference between the two is that the Queen, Philip and their children are dressed far more formally.
Prince Philip holds Prince Andrew on his knee and the family smile as Balmoral Castle stands in the background
Kate hugging Charlotte in the video released to announce the end of her chemotherapy
Prince George looking into the camera while Kate and Prince Louis sit behind
Philip’s suit is a contrast to William’s more laid-back look of an unbuttoned shirt, trousers and trainers.
The Royal Family have always enjoyed picnics together, especially at Balmoral.
Princess Eugenie previously said how happy the Queen was in the Scottish Highlands in a documentary and how her time there included, ‘walks, picnics, dogs – a lot of dogs, there’s always dogs – and people coming in and out all the time.’
Philip – who also loved the outdoors – was known for cooking for his family on barbecues and organising riverside picnics too.
