Long lens photographs of Kate Middleton getting off a plane en route to Mustique with Britain's future monarch appeared on the cover of Hello! magazine and across eight inside pages.
It is the first time paparazzi pictures of the six-month-old Prince George have been published, and the pictures, sold to the magazine by a freelance photographer, are the first images of the future king since his christening in October.
The 32-year-old Duchess of Cambridge's silence appeared to be at odds with past objections to "private" photographs of her taken in public places, and raised the question of whether she is exercising "image control" rather than protecting her privacy, legal experts were quoted by The Telegraph as saying.
Royal sources were quoted by the daily as saying that Kensington Palace had not objected to the pictures, in which the Duchess is groomed and smiling, because they were taken "in a public place, without any harassment or pursuit".
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The Duke of Cambridge, who is in the middle of a 10-week course at Cambridge University, did not join them.
Front page photographs of the Prince in a pale blue romper suit and sunhat were accompanied by the headline, "Hasn't he grown! Prince George's first holiday as doting Kate jets off on a sunshine family break."