( CNN ) -- Prince George is n't your average one year old . He started walking before he was one . Oh , and , he 's going to be king -- of 16 countries . I had to remind myself occasionally of that latter fact as I stood outside the hospital in London where he was born ... for a week before his arrival . It went against my journalistic instinct to report on a story that had n't happened yet but if I did n't appear regularly on air , giving an update about what had n't happened , then the assumption was that it had and rumors would start which I would have to come back on air to refute . If you ca n't beat them , join them . When `` the royal baby '' did emerge , there was a collective sense of relief and excitement among the assembled media . He was already one of the biggest stars in the world and we did n't even know his name . Before we knew it he was whisked away , with his father in the driving seat , to Kensington Palace . Soon he was in the Middleton family home in Berkshire , southern England , where Kate had spent much of her pregnancy . It 's safe , private , protected . The Cambridges wanted to keep George 's world small and intimate in those early days so that mother , father and baby could bond . To satisfy intense media interest , they released an official photo . It was n't taken by a professional outsider who would burst the bubble -- rather it was a family snap taken by George 's grandfather , Michael Middleton . I met William during that first fortnight and he was exhausted and elated , the hallmarks of a hands-on dad . The duke always tries to do things himself if he can . He does n't like fuss . It may have gone against royal tradition but it was n't intentional . We did n't see George again for another three months when he appeared bright eyed and wriggling in his father 's arms for his christening at St. James Palace . It was all about the cheeks . After the service , he had his first professional photo shoot with celebrity photographer Jason Bell . `` He did n't start screaming , '' Bell recalls . `` You know , he giggled away and put his arms up ... I was astonished , that having done the pictures , the level of interest here . `` I had a really weird moment where , straight after shooting the christening pictures , I was doing a job in Colorado and I changed planes in Denver . And I walked through the airport , and it was like that 'Being John Malkovich ' poster where everyone in the airport was reading 'People ' magazine and this picture on the cover , and this picture was like staring at me everywhere . It was just really strange moment , when you 're like 'Wow this picture is like everywhere . ' '' When George was eight months old , Bell was brought back in and took another picture of the family ahead of their tour in April to New Zealand and Australia . He chose a shot of them sitting at a window in Kensington Palace . `` I went back and he was a little boy now , not a baby , '' says bell . `` He was crawling around , and you know , they grow up so quick ! '' George was growing fast . In New Zealand a special playdate was convened for George with local youngsters of the same age . His size became apparent as he towered over all but one of his Kiwi counterparts . In a distinctly un-regal moment he grabbed a toy block from another baby who cried . Her parents are still hoping that they will stay in touch . The young prince appeared again in Sydney during a trip to the zoo . George was pulling himself up on the sides of a bilby enclosure and started walking shortly after he got back to the UK . The latest set of pictures , released to mark his birthday this week , show George on a day out at the Natural History Museum in London . It could be any toddler 's day out . And it 's this normality that 's the running theme throughout his first year in pictures . He 's not normal . His parents know that but they 're protecting him for as long as they can .
Prince George was born on July 1 2013 amid intense media attention . During his first year he traveled with his parents on their trips to New Zealand and Australia . Foster : Foster 's father wanted to keep his family small and intimate in those early years .