Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, celebrates her 32nd birthday on Thursday.
No one knows for sure how she’ll mark the big day, but most seem to think she’ll spend some quiet time with her husband, Prince William, and new baby, Prince George.
“As a mother of a five-month-old baby it is unlikely the Duchess will be celebrating into the small hours,” England’s Mirror noted, adding that “a Kensington Palace spokesman said that Kate would be spending her birthday ‘privately.’”
Sky News speculates that “after a busy period for the family Cambridge — Prince George’s first Christmas with the Queen in Sandringham, and New Year at the Middleton home in Bucklebury — Kate’s birthday is likely to be London based.”
Kate’s sister, Pippa Middleton, is a keen party planner, though there’s no word on whether she may have something special in the works. Pippa and Kate’s mother, Carole Middleton, were spotted shopping in London earlier this week, Sky News says, stopping in ”at one of Kate’s favourite stores, Peter Jones on the King’s Road.”
Rumours have also been swirling about a possible birthday serenade from Taylor Swift. Prince William met Swift at a charity event in December, and there have been reports that he asked the country star to return to London to meet his wife.
The International Business Times reports that Prince William has presented his wife with some very romantic gifts in the past: “He has previously commissioned an oil painting of her; presented her with pearl earrings and the two have had a romantic getaway in Scotland on her past birthdays. She also received her much loved Labrador Lupo as a birthday gift from William.” (Lupo is actually a cocker spaniel, so it’s possible the gift listings are also not entirely correct.)
To celebrate the Duchess’s birthday, here’s a look back at some of her most spectacular gowns from the past few years.
PHOTO: Chris Jackson, Getty Images
Kate arrives at Royal Albert Hall in London, in 2012.
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Kate leaves Clarence House to travel to Buckingham Palace for the evening celebrations following her wedding to Prince William.
Kate attends The Sun Military Awards at the Imperial War Museum in London in 2011.
PHOTO: Ian West, AFP/Getty Images
Kate arrives at a gala dinner in aid of Action on Addiction in central London in October 2013.
PHOTO: Kevork Djansezian, Getty Images
Kate arrives at the BAFTA “Brits To Watch” event in Los Angeles in 2011.
PHOTO: Lefteris Pitarakis, WPA Pool/Getty Images
Prince William and Kate arrive at a reception in aid of the National Memorial Arboretum Appeal at St James’s Palace in 2011 in London.
PHOTO: Paul Burns, Clarence House via Getty Images
Kate speaks to guests as she attends an event in support of the ‘In Kind Direct’ charity at Clarence House in 2011.
PHOTO: John Stillwell, WPA Pool/Getty Images
Kate attends The Sun Military Awards at the Imperial War Museum in London in 2011.
PHOTO: Theodore Wood via Getty Images
Prince William and Kate, Duchess of Cambridge, attend a fundraising Gala organized by 100 Women in Hedge Funds in aid of the Child Bereavement Charity at St. James’s Palace in 2011 in London.
PHOTO: Mark Large, Pool/Getty Images
Kate attends an official dinner hosted by Malaysia’s Head of State in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in 2012.
PHOTO: Arthur Edwards, WPA/Getty Images
Kate attends the ARK 10th Anniversary Gala Dinner in London in 2011.
PHOTO: Chris Jackson, WPA Pool/Getty Images
Kate attends the Royal film performance of ‘Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom’ in London in December.