The special reason Kate Middleton will be staying up late tonight

Kate Middleton
(Image credit: Getty)

The special reason Kate Middleton will be staying up late tonight has been revealed.

Kate Middleton is expected to stay up late tonight, following a family tradition, so she can bake a surprise birthday cake for her son Prince George who celebrates his eighth birthday.

The mum-of-three, to Prince George, seven, Charlotte, six, and Louis, three, who she has with Prince William, is keen to make birthdays special for their children. So much so that she is prepared to stay up late into the night - just so she can pull off an extra special surprise by making them their own birthday cake.

Kate, who also enjoys taking her children to explore the great outdoors revealed the sweet detail during filming with Mary Berry for A Berry Royal Christmas.

"I love making the cake," said Kate. "It's become a bit of a tradition that I stay up 'til midnight with ridiculous amounts of cake mix and icing and I make far too much. But I love it."

Kate Middleton and Mary Berry

It comes after it was suggested Prince George could have the 'world's greatest upbringing' providing Kate and William get it right.

Kate appears to get her love of party planning from her parents Carole and Michael Middleton who run a successful party-planning business, Party Pieces.

Kate's eldest son, Prince George is about to celebrate a milestone eighth birthday - as this was the age his dad Prince William went to boarding school and it's understood the Cambridge's are considering a boarding school move for him, which could see him leave London after his birthday.

Prince George and Princess Charlotte

(Image credit: Getty Images)

But there's another birthday tradition for Prince George that will leave his dad Prince William struggling. George's godmother Julia Samuel, 60, who was best friends with the late Princess Diana, always buys 'impossible' toys for the youngster so William has to spend days carefully assembling for him.

Speaking on the podcast How to Fail with Elizabeth Day, she said, "I do to George what [Diana] did to us, which is give impossible toys that are really noisy and take a lot of making.

"William then has to spend days putting together. And then put all the machinery together, and it makes awful tooting noises and lights flashing and all of that."

Last year to mark Prince George's seventh birthday, and for each birthday before that, his mum has traditionally released a birthday snap to show how grown up the youngster is. And as we await a new one tomorrow, here are some of Prince George's cutest moments compiled by the Royal Family YouTube channel...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pQWidyjcew

His birthday, 22nd July, fell during UK lockdown so George spent his birthday at Anmer with the rest of his family. George is thought to have enjoyed a special birthday tea in his honour, attended by his family and some friends.

His celebrations missed the traditional bell ringing of Westminster Abbey due to the Covid regulations but with lockdown restrictions now lifted, the bells could be chiming again tomorrow.

Selina Maycock
Senior Family Writer

Selina is a Senior Family Writer for GoodtoKnow and has more than 16 years years of experience. She specialises in royal family news, including the latest activities of Prince George, Charlotte, Louis, Archie and Lilibet. She also covers the latest government, health and charity advice for families. Selina graduated from the University of Sheffield in 2006 with a degree in Journalism, and gained her NCTJ and NCE qualifications. During her career, she’s also written for Woman, Woman's Own, Woman&Home, and Woman's Weekly as well as Heat magazine, Bang Showbiz - and the Scunthorpe Telegraph. When she's not covering family news, you can find her exploring new countryside walking routes, catching up with friends over good food, or making memories (including award-winning scarecrows!)