Prince George: How the papers covered his christening, despite being a small private affair attended by only 22 guests.

Photographs of Prince George were featured on the front pages of seven of the country’s national newspapers, and those of nine newspapers around the world

Coverage of the christening dominated today’s Daily Mail, who ran 16 pages, including their front page, on the event. The first eight pages of the newspaper - which ran the front page headline “HRH Grump – but by George he’s gorgeous!” - were dominated by photographs of the day, followed by advice from Archbishop Welby, a round up of the godparents, a comparison with Prince William’s christening, and a comment piece on why people enjoy the event.

The Sun’s front page featured a picture of the three-month old Prince with the headline “Georgeous” and follows it up with three page of coverage inside the paper. As many papers, they make reference to the fact that Prince George remained quiet throughout the ceremony, mocking up a speech bubble on a picture of The Duke of Cambridge carrying his baby with the words “It’s the first time he has been quiet all day”. They then ran a page on the godparents who they describe as “Tot of the Toffs”.

Our front page was entirely dedicated to a photograph of Prince George, wearing a 2008 replica of the lace gown worn by every Royal baby since 1841, being carried by his mother the Duchess of Cambridge. we describe George as the “The Perfect Prince” after he remained calm and quiet during the ceremony at the Chapel Royal at St James’ Palace. Inside we dedicated four pages to the event, including coverage of the day, the godparents, and the fashion choices of the guests.

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The Daily Express led with a picture of Prince George on their front page, although it was not their main story. They followed with coverage on p.2 and p.3 of the event itself, p.4 focused on the fashion choices of the day, whilst page five explained who the godparents are. The newspaper described the event as a “landmark day for the British monarchy”. The newspaper was also selling a “double handed christening mug” they had commissioned to mark the big day.

The Times ran a front page picture of Prince George being carried into the chapel by his father, the Duke of Cambridge, but did not run a front page story on the event. The newspaper began their coverage in earnest on p.6, and devoted four pages of the newspaper to the historic event, pointing out he was joining the church he is “born to lead”. As with most papers, they focused on how well behaved George remained throughout the day and who has been chosen as his god parents.

The Metro splashed on the Royal christening, running the headline “Prince George and the cream mother”. Inside the paper they dedicated two pages to the ceremony in the chapel Royal, with a picture of Prince William and his son followed by the headline “George is my son and hair”. They said that his first official engagement showed how much the “chunky young royal” looked like his father. They described it as a “low key event for the third in line for the throne”

The Daily Mirror dedicated four pages to the baby’s christening, starting on p.4 and describing the day over two pages before focusing on the godparents, described by the newspaper as “George’s God Squad”, listing who they were and how they knew the couple. They newspaper also carried a picture of the Duchess of Cambridge carrying Prince George on the front page. They said that the day allowed the world it “long awaited second look” at the future king.

However, while the front page dominated the front pages of most of the country’s newspapers, it was notably absent from the covers of the Guardian and the Independent.

The Independent only ran 19 words on the event at the bottom of p.27.

Although “Prince George was christened yesterday in a private ceremony at St James's Palace led by the Archbishop of Canterbury”, was the extent of their news coverage in the newspaper also ran a comment piece on page 13 by Grace Dent headlined: “It's extraordinary how ordinary these royals seem.” The paper had also ran a “Republican Live Blog” as the event was ongoing yesterday, offering readers “All the news on today's big non-news event.”

Although they did not feature it on their front page, opting instead for a picture of the German chancellor Angela Merkel, the Guardian did dedicate their page 3 largely to the event.

Here is a sample of some of the foreign papers who featured the future King on their front pages -

The French were distinctly underwhelmed by the christening, and it did not make it on to any front page. The story was given a small picture and 100 words at the bottom of page 15 in Le Parisien, a small photo in Le Figaro on an inside page with nothing more than the caption "Baptism of Prince George in London yesterday", and not a mention in Liberation.

In Germany George made it on to the front page of Bild, the country’s biggest selling newspaper, which ran the headline “Big day for a little prince”

The broadsheet Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung ran a report on p.7 whilst the Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper carried a p. 10 report with the headline: ‘In memory of Diana: The remarkable christening of Prince George’.

The regional paper the Rheinische Post also ran a front page picture.

The event was not covered on any of the websites of any major news organisations in Belgium or Holland. In Africa only one newspaper mentioned the event on the World pages, and in Thailand only the Bangkok post ran a short piece.

None of the Chinese newspapers ran a story about the big day for the third in line for the throne, although many websites ran a news agency piece saying George “has a very handsome round face and he looks very cute." Shanghai Television also ran a short report.