Lady Louise Windsor shared a love of carriage driving with her grandfather, Prince Philip. But there is another – and very personal – reason why she held a special place in his heart
- Lady Louise chose not to be HRH and took the surname Mountbatten-Windsor
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- Read more: Queen’s granddaughter Lady Louise Windsor takes minimum-wage job
Elegant and dutiful, Lady Louise Mountbatten-Windsor was one of the youngest and freshest faces among the senior Royals at the Coronation and on the Buckingham Palace balcony afterwards.
The 19-year-old has mostly been shielded from the public gaze by her parents Edward and Sophie, Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh.
But she is dear to the heart of the Royal Family and was particularly close to her late grandparents, Queen Elizabeth and Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.
Lady Louise was their seventh grandchild. And for Philip, she brought not just joy but a sense of personal pride.
Lady Louise Mountbatten-Windsor at Westminster Abbey for the Coronation of her uncle, King Charles III and Queen Camilla
Lady Louise Windsor was the first royal to bear the surname Mountbatten-Windsor, so allowing Prince Philip’s name, Mountbatten, to survive into the future of the Royal Family
It was announced that the then Earl and Countess of Wessex’s children would not adopt the style HRH. Here, they are pictured leaving Frimley Park Hospital in Surrey with baby Louise
A former aide said Prince Philip would be ‘thrilled’ that a member of the Royal Family would e continuing the Mountbatten line
Lady Louise, pictured with her parents and her younger brother, James, is now a student at St Andrews University
This was because she became the first royal to officially carry the surname Mountbatten-Windsor – so allowing Philip’s surname, Mountbatten, to continue into the future of the Royal family.
(The former Duke of Edinburgh had been particularly stung by the idea that his children would not inherit his name, once describing himself as ‘a bloody amoeba’ after learning that Charles would take the surname Windsor.)
A former aide said Philip would be ‘thrilled’ that, 55 years after the birth of his first child, a member of the Royal Family would finally be carrying on the Mountbatten line.
In 2019, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Harry and Meghan, followed suit, naming their first child Archie Mountbatten-Windsor.
Prince Philip had been born with the family name Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburgfirst.
But he assumed the rather more manageable name Mountbatten in 1947, when he renounced his Greek and Danish royal title and became a British citizen.
Following her accession to the throne, Queen Elizabeth confirmed that the Royal Family name would remain as Windsor, following the name change from Saxe-Coburg-Gotha in 1917 due to anti-German sentiment.
The Queen’s decision to keep the name, at the advice of then Prime Minister Winston Churchill, supposedly left her husband feeling irritated, as outlined in Sally Bedell Smith’s book, Elizabeth the Queen.
It reports that the former Duke of Edinburgh made the Queen cry with his ‘almost brutal’ attitude when she refused to take his surname.
She ‘failed to see that her actions would have a profound effect on Philip, leading to strains in their marriage’, it adds.
In 1960, it was decided that the Queen’s ‘de-royalised’ descendants, starting with any grandchildren who lacked the designation of ‘royal highness’, would adopt the surname Mountbatten-Windsor.
The monarch said she ‘has had this in mind for a long time and it is close to her heart’ in a statement at the time.
While royals with a Prince or Princess title often do not use a surname, Mountbatten-Windsor became the name they would use if the instance ever arose.
The first time Mountbatten-Windsor appeared in an official document was by Princess Anne for the registration of her marriage to Captain Mark Phillips in 1973.
Prince Edward, now the Duke of Edinburgh, married Sophie Rhys-Jones in 1999 and was given the title of the Earl of Wessex.
In letters patent issued in 1917 by King George V, it was decreed that the children of the sons of the monarch could use the title HRH as well as ‘prince’ or ‘princess’, but it was decided that Edward’s children would receive courtesy titles as children of an Earl.
Lady Louise was allowed to choose whether to use the Her Royal Highness style when she reached 18 years old – an opportunity that she has so far turned down.
Speaking to The Sunday Times Magazine in 2020, Sophie said: ‘We try to bring them up with the understanding that they are very likely to have to work for a living.’
Princess Anne’s children, Zara and Peter, also do not have HRH titles and adopted the surname of their father – Mark Phillips.
Today, Louise, who uses the title of Lady Louise Windsor for ease, is in her first year of a degree in English St Andrews University – where her cousin William met Kate.
She had been born prematurely in 2003.
Her mother, then Countess of Wessex, went into labour when 36 weeks pregnant on November 8, 2003, while Prince Edward was in Mauritius – a 12-hour flight away – for an official visit.
When she arrived at Frimley Park Hospital in Surrey, Sophie was showing signs of acute placental abruption, in which the placental lining becomes separate from the uterus, and doctors performed an emergency delivery.
The moment Louise was born, weighing just 4lb 9oz, she was taken from her mother and rushed to St George’s Hospital in Tooting, London, for special care.
Sophie, meanwhile, had been just 15 minutes from death, reported the Mail On Sunday in 2014.
Louise was baptised in the private chapel at Windsor with godparents including Lady Sarah Chatto, Lady Alexandra Etherington, Mrs Francesca Schwarzenbach and Mr Rupert Elliott as well as Lord Ivar Mountbatten.
The young royal shared a love of carriage driving with the late Duke of Edinburgh, who was instrumental in helping to establish the sport in Britain
In 2011, Lady Louise was a bridesmaid at the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton
The young royal shared a love of carriage driving with the late Duke of Edinburgh, who was instrumental in helping to establish the activity as a sport in Britain.
Louise paid tribute to her grandfather’s legacy by taking part in a carriage-driving event in April last year, on the weekend of the anniversary of his death.
In 2011, she was a bridesmaid at the wedding of William and Kate.
It was revealed that Lady Louise had been working at a garden centre over the summer before heading to university, earning £6.63 per hour.
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