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Does Prince George Ever Wear Pants? What About In The Winter? An Investigation...

by Brianna Wiest

There are so many things to ponder about the royal family, given that despite how public their lives are, they are generally tight lipped about, well, pretty much everything. Thankfully, their style speaks for itself, even on the off occasion that their choices are somewhat questionable. For instance, given that a certain 5-year-old royal is almost always seen donning shorts, you might be wondering: Does Prince George ever wear pants, especially in the winter?

If you're someone who follows the royal family whatsoever, you've certainly noticed by now that royal children tend to wear the same "uniform" of sorts, though their tops and bottoms are swapped out for different color combinations, and dressiness given the occasion. Many find themselves ogling over Princess Charlotte's dress and cardigan combos, and perhaps wondering why it is that Prince George is almost always seen... in short pants. Well, as it turns out, there's a reason.

Though there is no official rule that says Prince George has to wear shorts, it is somewhat of a tradition, as People reported. It all boils down to signaling class, an expert explained to the magazine. Apparently, young boys wearing long pants is very "suburban," so the royal family sticks to the tradition of keeping boys in shorts before they're able to wear pants around age 8, at which time the style is considered a "rite of passage" into young manhood.

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However, many spectators have noticed that this rule has been broken on at least two occasions this year alone.

For example, Prince George was seen sporting a pair of blue pants in his family's Christmas card this year, as People reported. (If that's not sweet enough, the magazine also reported that one fan noticed in the photo, Princess Charlotte is wearing a hand-me-down: her older brother's blue sweater, which he was seen wearing a number of years ago. It plays into Kate Middleton's fondness for being uh, a normal person and re-wearing clothes, as she notably did during Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's wedding.)

Speaking of that little wedding, it was another occasion that Prince George, as well as the other page boys, all wore long pants. It seems that, while shorts are generally preferred, pants are used for special occasions. It could also be that given George is officially the eldest sibling with a little sister and brother behind him now, the pants serve as somewhat of a marker of his maturity... though of course, that's all speculative.

Though it seems the pants are reserved for occasions, as Hello! Magazine reported in 2017, Prince George has been spotted in other instances wearing longer coats to cover his upper legs when it's cold out, meaning that though he's not always in trousers, he's definitely always warm.

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And, don't worry, Prince George definitely has a royal snow suit for when he and Princess Charlotte (and eventually little Prince Louis) want to play outside, too. Like this adorable get-up...

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Though it honestly may seem like NBD to the rest of us, wearing pants is actually a pretty big statement, garnering headlines calling it a "shock" for the royal family, as Express previously reported.

Offering a bit more clarity for those of us who weren't raised with such rigorous sartorial standards, William Hanson told Harper’s Bazaar: “It's a very English thing to dress a young boy in shorts. Trousers are for older boys and men, whereas shorts on young boys is one of those silent class markers that we have in England."

He continued, according to Harper's Bazaar, "Although times are (slowly) changing, a pair of trousers on a young boy is considered quite middle class – quite suburban. And no self-respecting aristo or royal would want to be considered suburban. Even the Duchess of Cambridge."

Despite that supposition, it's clear that Duchess Kate may be following in the footsteps of her new rule-breaking sister-in-law, Meghan Markle, who Teen Vogue has said breaks royal fashion protocol pretty frequently. Either way, it's pretty refreshing to see a new wave of fashion evolving as the family does.

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