Prince Louis of Wales

by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2018

Prince Louis of Wales, Christmas 2023

Prince Louis Arthur Charles of Wales is the second son of the two sons and the youngest of the three children of Prince William, The Prince of Wales and The Princess of Wales, the former Catherine Middleton. He was born at 11:01 AM London time on April 23, 2018, at the Lindo Wing, St. Mary’s Hospital in London.

 

Prince Louis had two older siblings:

The Succession to The Crown Act 2013, which formally went into effect on March 26, 2015, put in place absolute primogeniture, which means for those born after October 28, 2011, the eldest child born becomes the heir to his or her parent, regardless of gender. This means that at the time of his birth Prince Louis was fifth in the line of succession after his grandfather now King Charles III of the United Kingdom, his father The Duke of Cornwall and Cambridge, his elder brother Prince George of Cornwall and Cambridge, and his elder sister Princess Charlotte of Cornwall and Cambridge. With the birth of Prince Louis, Princess Charlotte became the first princess not to be overtaken in the line of succession by her younger brother.

Later on the day of Louis’ birth, Prince William brought Prince George and Princess Charlotte to the hospital to meet their new baby brother.  Just a few hours later, The Duke and Duchess and their newborn son left the hospital and returned home to Kensington Palace. Four days later, the couple announced their son’s name – Louis Arthur Charles.

 

More associated with French royalty, the name Louis (pronounced Lou-ee) has never been used as a first name for a British prince. King George I was named Georg Ludwig in German, George Louis in English. King George III’s father, the Prince of Wales who never became king because he predeceased his father, was named Frederick Lewis.

The uncle of Prince Philip, Prince Louis’ great-grandfather, was named Louis. Born Prince Louis of Battenberg and a great-grandson of Queen Victoria, Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma served in World War II and was the last Viceroy of India. He was assassinated by an Irish Republican Army bomb in 1979.

Also in Prince Louis’ ancestry from his great-grandfather Prince Philip’s side of the family is Ludwig IV, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine, the husband of Queen Victoria’s daughter Princess Alice and Prince Ludwig of Battenberg, later Louis Mountbatten, 1st Marquess of Milford Haven. the father of both Prince Philip’s mother Alice and Philip’s uncle Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma.

Prince Louis’ father, named William Arthur Philip Louis, has two of his son’s names, as does the baby’s paternal grandfather Charles Philip Arthur George. King Henry VII’s eldest son who predeceased him was Arthur, Prince of Wales and one of Queen Victoria’s sons was Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught.

 

Prince Louis was christened on July 9, 2018, at The Chapel Royal, St. James’s Palace, London.  His parents asked the following people to be his godparents:

  • Mr. Nicholas van Cutsem (a friend of his father)
  • Mr. Guy Pelly (a friend of his father)
  • Mr. Harry Aubrey-Fletcher (an Eton College friend of his father)
  • Lady Laura Meade (friend of his father formerly Laura Marsham, daughter of Julian Marsham, 8th Earl of Romney; wife of James Meade who is a godfather of Princess Charlotte)
  • Mrs. Robert (Hannah) Carter (a school friend of his mother)
  • Miss Lucy Middleton  (paternal first cousin of his mother)

The week of his third birthday Prince Louis began attending the Willcocks Nursery School, close to her Kensington Palace home, the same nursery school his sister Charlotte attended.

Louis and his siblings ride in the Trooping the Colour carriage procession for the first time in 2022; Credit – By John Pannell from Watford, UK – Queen’s Platinum Jubilee 2022-0695, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=118639761

On June 2, 2022, during his great-grandmother’s Platinum Jubilee celebration weekend, Louis and his siblings made their debut in the Trooping the Colour carriage procession. All three Cambridge children then joined their parents, Queen Elizabeth II, and other working royals on the Buckingham Palace balcony.

William and Catherine with their children on the Buckingham Palace balcony during the Platinum Jubilee celebrations of Queen Elizabeth II in 2022

On June 5, 2022, the three children also attended Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee Pageant where Prince Louis famously drew media coverage when he threw a tantrum, thumbing his nose and sticking out his tongue at his mother.

 

In the summer of 2022, Louis and his family moved to Adelaide Cottage, a four-bedroom house on the grounds of Windsor Castle in Berkshire, England. The move was made to give Louis and his siblings a more normal family life. In the fall of 2022, Louis and his siblings began attending Lambrook School, a prestigious fee-paying school in Winkfield, near Windsor. The school is described on its website as a “leading coeducational Prep School for 615 boys and girls aged 3 and 13, set in 52 acres of beautiful Berkshire countryside.” Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis will not be the first royals who attended Lambrook School. Prince Christian Victor of Schleswig-Holstein and his brother Prince Albert of Schleswig-Holstein, grandsons of Queen Victoria and sons of Princess Helena and Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein, also attended Lambrook School.

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