The youngest child of The Prince and Princess of Wales is grateful to his great-grandmother.
If Queen Elizabeth II hadn’t modified a royal decree before Prince Louis was born, his official title could have been quite different.
Prince Louis Arthur Charles is the second son and third child of Prince William and Catherine, Princess of Wales.
The six-year-old, whose full name is His Royal Highness Prince Louis of Cambridge, is currently fourth in line for the throne.
In the line of succession, he follows his father, William, 42, his older brother, Prince George, 11, and his sister, Princess Charlotte, nine.
However, if his late great-grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, had not pushed to alter an outdated regulation, he would have been third in line, but at a significant cost.
In the 17th century, the 1689 Bill of Rights and the 1701 Act of Settlement established that direct female descendants of the monarch might be bypassed in the line of succession in favor of a younger male sibling.
However, in 2013, the Queen supported the Succession to the Crown Act, which abolished the practice of male-preference primogeniture.
Instead, she stated that any future UK ruler’s sons and daughters would have equal rights to the throne.
This is generally referred to as absolute primogeniture.
If the Queen had not changed the statute, Louis would have surpassed Charlotte as the third in line to the throne.
Interestingly, the succession rule was not the first royal order that the Queen reversed.
Former monarch King George V issued a royal proclamation in 1917 announcing that all of the sovereign’s offspring would get royal titles.
Any grandchildren born through the male line would also be eligible to receive the title of Prince or Princess, but great-grandchildren of the king would not.
Prior to the birth of William and 42-year-old Kate Middleton’s first baby, George, the Queen decided that all offspring of King Charles’ first child could use the titles Prince or Princess.
As a result, George was renamed His Royal Highness Prince George of Cambridge, while Charlotte was given the title Her Royal Highness Princess Charlotte of Cambridge.
If the royal title change hadn’t occurred, Louis would have been known as Master Louis Cambridge, after his father’s title, or even Master Louis Windsor, after the House of Windsor.
Earlier this summer, it was stated that Louis could have to wait a few years before making public appearances at athletic events.
The claim came after George was spotted at the Men’s UEFA Euro 2024 final and Charlotte at the Wimbledon Tennis Championships.
“Charlotte made her first appearance at Wimbledon when she was eight, so he’s got to wait a couple more years,” claimed digital royal editor of GB News, Svar Nanan-Sen.
“But Kate did say last year when George and Charlotte went to Wimbledon without Louis, that he was very upset about it.”
