Best royal photos: June 2015

There are always many royal photos every month but some make more of a mark than others. They might be moments caught on camera or records of events that will be written about for decades to come. But they all help sum up four weeks in a moment.  Here are the five photos that will linger on as a memory of a very royal June 2015. And it all starts in Sweden where Prince Carl Philip, born an heir and demoted to spare seven months later, married Sofia Hellqvist in the Royal Wedding of the year. There were lots of lovely images of a very modern marriage but the one for the history books is their official photo, the first of them as husband and wife, released the day after their marriage.

Prince Carl Philip and Princess Sofia of Sweden, Duke and Duchess of Varmland

Married June 13th 2015, Stockholm

Sofia is now Europe's newest princess but its second newest starred in another image of the month. Charlotte of Cambridge's first official pictures were taken by her mother in mid May and released at the start of June. She shared the limelight with Prince George in a set of four snaps that added hundreds of thousands of Twitter followers to the Kensington Royal account. The first, and perhaps the most striking, showed a big brother gazing in wonder at his new little sister.

Prince George and Princess Charlotte of Cambridge at home in Norfolk

Photographs by the Duchess of Cambridge released on June 7th 2015

George and Charlotte's grandfather, the Prince of Wales, led British commemorations for the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo in London. In Belgium, King Philippe and Queen Mathilde welcomed King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima of the Netherlands and the Grand Duke and Duchess of Luxembourg as well as the Duke of Kent for commemorations there. One image caught many of these royal men together alongside a descendant of the House of Napoleon in a photo that brought history alive.

The King of the Belgians leads commemorations for the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo

Waterloo, Belgium, June 18th 2015

There were celebrations of another kind earlier that same week when the party for the Queen's official birthday got under way with Trooping the Colour. There was much excitement beforehand about the possibility of seeing the Duchess of Cambridge for the first time since she gave birth to Princess Charlotte. In the end, it was her son who stole the show appearing on the balcony of Buckingham Palace for the first time in an outfit worn by his father and grandfather before him. It was the first time that the Queen had been seen with the three princes who will each one day inherit her throne and it was a real photo for posterity.

View image | gettyimages.com

Elizabeth II with the Prince of Wales, the Duke of Cambridge and Prince George of Cambridge Trooping the Colour, London, June 13th 2015

Sweden was the royal star of the month - it's not often that a major royal wedding is followed less than forty eight hours later by the birth of a new prince. Carl Philip's sister, Madeleine, attended his wedding on Saturday June 13th and delivered her second child, a son, on June 15th. The baby, named Nicolas Paul Gustaf, was made Duke of Angermanland by his proud grandfather, Carl XVI Gustaf, within days of his birth. The first official photos of him, including this close up, will go down in history as the start of another royal chapter.

Prince Nicolas of Sweden

Born June 15th 2015, Stockholm