Royal fans were treated to a surprise at the annual Festival of Remembrance on November 8 when Prince George made his debut at the event alongside mom Princess Kate. The 12-year-old prince, who will one day become King, is slowly being introduced to royal life by his parents. While this key appearance over Remembrance weekend wasn’t his first time honoring veterans, it marked a major introduction to his future duties, as royal biographer Robert Jobson noted in a piece for Hello!

“He stood straight, alert, absorbing every detail,” Jobson wrote of George, who attended the concert at London’s Royal Albert Hall, describing him as “a child, yes, but already measured and aware.”

Prince William was unable to attend the event, and with George standing in for his father, singing “God Save the King,” Jobson said that the pre-teen “embodied both innocence and inheritance—the promise of a future in formation.”

In May, Prince George attended the 80th anniversary commemorations for VE Day alongside his parents and siblings, but it was George alone who also took part in a special event. While meeting World War II veterans at a tea party, the future King got to hear stories that will surely stay with him when he becomes the head of the British Armed Forces, and it’s an experience that followed in Prince William’s footsteps.

Jobson noted that William’s VE Day debut was also at 12 years old when he stood “beside his mother, Princess Diana in Hyde Park.” He wrote that the “parallel” between father and son “is deliberate” in this instance, adding that the events saw “two heirs on the cusp of adolescence learning that duty begins by bearing witness.”

The Prince of Wales has been clear that he wants his children to have as normal childhoods as possible while also recognizing the unique position they’re in as members of the Royal Family. It’s an attitude that Jobson calls “the new face of the monarchy.”

“William and Kate stand at its core—calm, capable, quietly transformative,” he wrote. “The King reigns with grace and resolve, but he knows that the rhythm of change has begun. The Waleses shape the next age: open, modern, human and with a loving dynamic on show like never before within the Royal Family.”