Prince George delighted royal fans earlier this week when he attended his first official function as a member of the Royal Family, which was in line with the Prince and Princess of Wales's "balancing act" between his future royal duties and a normal childhood. The second in line to the British throne attended a tea party to celebrate VE Day on Monday alongside his parents, following a day of engagements paying tribute to the service and sacrifice of the wartime generation.

George was seen engaging with veterans who were invited to Buckingham Palace for the special event. According to the Mail, this prompted several royal watchers to theorise that Princess Kate and Prince William "have carefully started to give George a 'small taste of his future duties as King'". The Waleses have been carefully preparing their eldest son for his future role within the monarchy.

A palace source previously told People magazine that it's a "massive balancing act, adding: "William and Kate are doing the right thing, protecting him so he can have as normal a childhood as possible, but he's also dipping into duties as a future monarch

"[George is getting a ] firsthand experience of what it's like to be a royal monarch as well as firsthand experience of being a normal boy."

While it is not known when William and Kate told the young prince about his royal future, a royal author claimed that it could have taken place on the youngster's seventh birthday in 2020.

Author Robert Lacy wrote in his book The Battle of Brothers that William and Kate wanted to tell their eldest son the news in a "controlled moment of their choice".

He wrote: "It is thought that his parents went into more detail about what the little prince’s life of future royal 'service and duty' would particularly involve."

In 2016, when George was just three years old, William told the BBC: "As far as I'm concerned, within my family unit, we are a normal family.

"There will be a time and a place to bring George up and understand how he fits in the world but right now it's just a case of showing a secure stable environment around him."