Prince George poses for his first Royal Mail stamp to mark 'gan-gan' Queen Elizabeth's 90th

Just a few days ahead of Queen Elizabeth II's 90th birthday, the British royal family released photos to commemorate the occasion. According to Vanity Fair, the royal family wanted to celebrate this milestone with a sheet of commemorative stamps to be sold by the Royal Mail on Thursday.

Prince George, however, stole the spotlight in the photograph. He is seen standing next to his father Prince William on four blocks of foam on one side and his "gan-gan" Queen Elizabeth II on the other. For Prince George, this will be his first appearance on a royal stamp, said the Vanity Fair report.

According to The Sydney Morning Herald, the photo was taken last summer but only released on Tuesday. The stamps, which will be snapshots of heads of each of the family members from the photograph, will be on sale from Thursday just in time for the Queen's birthday on Friday. The Royal Mail will also issue six commemorative stamps showing the Queen's role in public as well as at home over 90 years.

So secretive was the shoot that photographer Ranald Mackechnie kept it even from his wife. He told The Telegraph that his wife will find out only when it would be made public. Talking about photographing the young Prince, Mackechnie said "He was absolutely charming, as you can see from the picture. You only have a short window of opportunity with small children, but Prince George was on good form and everyone seemed to enjoy seeing him enjoy the day," reported The Telegraph.

"It's great just to be asked to photograph a stamp, never mind four generations of the royal family. When I was asked
about I was ecstatic but I had to keep schtum (quiet) for 18 months," Photographer Ranald Mackechnie said.

"It was an amazingly relaxing and light-hearted sitting. They were comfortable with one another and behaved like any
family with their conversation and jokes. It was much more relaxed than when I've tried to take pictures with my family. The joy and energy coming out of George was fantastic. It lifted the whole shot and lifted the afternoon. He was on top form. He was quite fascinated by the lights. He took it all in his stride," added Mackechnie.

Twitter went gaga over the picture, with Prince George being the highlight.

@misszing @msannapicard Prince George alarms me. There's something about him reminiscent of a young Henry VIII. — Corrina Connor (@corrinacellist) April 20, 2016

And there were the funny ones

With inputs from PTI