Prince George turns 9! 9 things you didn’t know about Prince William and Kate Middleton’s son, from calling Queen Elizabeth ‘gan-gan’ to the British royal’s dreams of joining the RAF Air Cadets

Prince George turned nine years old on July 22 and appeared in a brand new portrait showing just how much he’s grown since his last birthday. The world has watched the young royal grow up and develop a public persona of his own in under a decade. With his role in the royal family likely to become more prominent as he gets older, here’s nine things you probably didn’t know about the future king ... 1. He almost wasn’t named George The Duchess of Cambridge had her “heart set on” the name Alexander for her firstborn according to royal expert Katie Nicholl, but she and William settled on George, with Alexander being the heir’s middle name, per Vanity Fair. Queen Elizabeth’s father was George VI and the current monarch’s middle name is Alexandra, so both names are believed to honour the rulers. 2. George has a sweet nickname for the queen Middleton revealed what Prince George calls the queen when she opened up about his special relationship with his great-grandmother in a 2016 interview with ITV. “George is only two-and-a-half and he calls her ‘gan-gan’,” Middleton told the TV network. Meet the 6 women Elvis Presley fell ‘in love’ with 3. George’s favourite food isn’t a British dish The Duchess of Cambridge revealed today that her daughter, Princess Charlotte, loves olives and that she encourages both her and Prince George to cook with her - they made cheesy pasta together the other day! @Place2Be pic.twitter.com/KLrjNlnV3h — Rebecca English (@RE_DailyMail) February 5, 2019 Chef Aldo Zilli – who has worked with Prince William to feed the homeless through the UK’s Centrepoint charity – revealed in 2020 that Prince George loves an Italian food staple. “[William’s] amazing – I’m waiting for the call because apparently his little boy’s favourite is spaghetti carbonara, so I’m waiting for the call to go and cook it for him,” Zilli told British media. “If George has my carbonara, he will never have another one, so I need to go and make it, let’s get the ball rolling, send me to the palace to cook!” Middleton has also hinted at his love for the carb-based dish, telling attendees at an event in February 2019 that George and Charlotte helped her cook cheesy pasta, per People. 4. He loves the countryside life Prince William has shared that George took a keen interest in delivering lambs as they spent time off in 2020 at their home in Norfolk, England. “Charlotte wasn’t sure at first but George was straight in there,” William said according to the Evening Standard, “They love seeing the lambs and feeding the lambs.” Earlier this year, Middleton revealed that her children often take on farming jobs when they’re not at school. “That was George’s job at half term – moving feed,” she told Welsh farmers after spotting a robot silage sweeper in one of the queen’s barns, per Hello!. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (@dukeandduchessofcambridge) Perhaps it’s no wonder the kids love farmyard animals in particular. “I was looking into my ancestry and there was someone who was a rare-breed goat farmer,” Middleton said, per Marie Claire. 5. And he’s concerned about endangered species While launching the Earthshot Prize in October 2020, William said George had to stop midway through watching Sir David Attenborough’s Extinction: The Facts documentary because he was getting too upset. Who will be the next James Bond? 10 men – and 1 woman – in the running “George and I had to turn it off, we got so sad about it,” William shared in a conversation with Sky News. “He said ‘I don’t want to watch this any more.’” William continued: “He’s seven years old and he’s asking these questions. He feels it.” 6. He’s into fundraising Charlie Mayhew MBE, chief executive officer of Tusk charity, told GB News in June: “Prince George very sweetly did a little cake sale to raise money for Tusk during lockdown and wrote a very sweet card about it, clearly demonstrating his concern for Africa’s wildlife.” Prince William is a patron for the charity which aims to protect endangered species in Africa. 7. He hates littering Last year, the Duke of Cambridge also told the public that Prince George got frustrated because he saw litter being thrown on the ground, per Evening Standard. It was after George had picked up rubbish during an initiative led by his primary school, Thomas’s Battersea in London. 8. George could join the RAF Air Cadets Prince William trained as a search and rescue pilot with the Royal Air Force in 2009 and joined C Flight, 22 Squadron at RAF Valley in Anglesey the following year. After Middleton took over from Prince Philip as patron for the RAF Air Cadets in 2015, she revealed in February 2016 that Prince George has a keen interest in flying. Who’s the richest Wooga Squad member? Net worths, ranked “He is now obsessed with the air cadets and wants to join,” said Middleton, according to Vanity Fair. “We are going to have to push that one when he gets to age 12.” You can request to join any time between age 12 and 17 – so only a few years to go now, George. 9. He’s a musician in the making During a tour of Wales in June, Middleton shared that the young royal is taking electric guitar lessons, reports People. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (@dukeandduchessofcambridge) Elsewhere during the visit to Cardiff Castle, the family watched an orchestra perform We Don’t Talk About Bruno from the Disney film Encanto and George was seen listening to a musical composition through headphones while fiddling with the controls on the sound mixing board. Prince William’s eldest child was clearly thrilled as he watched his younger sister Charlotte try her hand at conducting too. Want more stories like this? Follow STYLE on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Twitter.