Kate Middleton celebrated her 40th birthday over the weekend.
The beloved Duchess of Cambridge turned the big '4-0' on January 9, and marked the occasion by releasing three new official portraits.
Per BBC News, the stunning pics were captured by fashion photographer Paolo Roversi and shows Catherine paying tribute to her late mother-in-law by wearing the late Princess of Wales' earrings. The Duchess of Cambridge can also be seen wearing several pieces loaned to her by the Queen.
The incredible portraits were breathtaking:The three new portraits are set to enter the permanent collection of the National Portrait Gallery, of which Kate is a patron. Additionally, each of the three official portraits were reportedly snapped at Kew Gardens back in November.
This image looks like it is straight out of a Victorian fairy tale:On Instagram, the Duchess took the opportunity to thank her followers for their birthday wishes, writing: "Thank you for all of your very kind birthday wishes, and to Paolo and the National Portrait Gallery for these three special portraits."
However, although I'm sure we can all agree that the Duchess looks absolutely stunning in the new portraits, there were some social media uses that couldn't quite believe it was Catherine in the images.
Taking to Twitter, a number of people actually believe the portraits "look nothing like" Kate Middleton.
"What in the world?! This is apparently, allegedly, supposedly, presumably, purportedly… Kate Middleton. It looks absolutely nothing like her," one Twitter user wrote.
A second person questioned: "Anyone else think the three photos released of Kate marking her 40th look nothing like her?"
A third agreed, writing: "These photos of Kate look nothing like her!! When has she ever had a smile like this?! No dimples either!"
And the feeling was shared by many social media users:
But undeniably proud of his work was photographer Roversi, who took to Instagram to share one of the shots and the following birthday message to the Duchess: "Happy Birthday Kate! Happy to have photographed the Duchess of Cambridge for the @nationalportraitgallery on the occasion of her 40th birthday."
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