Lady Louise Windsor is marking a huge milestone today as she celebrates her 21st birthday.
The young royal, who is the eldest child of Prince Edward, the Duke of Edinburgh, and Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh, is likely to be either celebrating the occasion with her family at home or at St Andrews University in Scotland, where she is currently studying.
As well as being the only daughter of Prince Edward and Duchess Sophie, Lady Louise is also the youngest granddaughter of the late Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip.
Both her and her brother James, Viscount Severn, do not have a HRH status, as decided by her parents, however they attend royal events and appear on the Buckingham Palace balcony from time to time. This includes at special events such as the King’s Coronation last year.
To celebrate Lady Louise’s birthday, the Express takes a nostalgic look back at 11 of her best pictures!
Lady Louise Windsor was born prematurely on November 8, 2003. At the time, Prince Edward was abroad on a royal engagement and therefore did not make the birth.
At the time of her birth, Louise weighed only 4lbs 9oz and was taken from her mother as soon as she was born via emergency C-section and sent to St. George’s Hospital in Tooting, London, for specialised care.
On the day of her birth, the couple’s press secretary at the time confirmed: “Her Royal Highness The Countess of Wessex was safely delivered of a baby girl by emergency caesarean section at 11.32pm on Saturday 8th November, at the Frimley Park NHS Hospital in Surrey. The weight of the baby was 4lbs 9oz. Her Royal Highness and her daughter are both stable. As a purely precautionary measure, the baby was taken to the regional neo natal unit at St George’s Hospital, Tooting.”
The statement also read: “The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh are being kept informed of the progress of both The Countess and her baby, and they are very pleased that they are both doing well. Her Royal Highness and her daughter will remain in hospital for the foreseeable future.”
(Image: Tim Graham Picture Library/Getty Images)
Lady Louise shared a close bond with her grandparents as a result of her love of horses. She was particularly close to the late Duke thanks to their shared passion for carriage driving.
Prince Philip took up the sport in his 50s after he gave up polo, and has been one of Britain’s leading personalities championing it. Louise opened up on her love for carriage driving in the documentary Prince Philip: The Royal Family Remembers.
She said: “It’s incredible to have learned first hand from him. After a competition, he would always ask how it went. His eyes would light up because he just gets so excited when he talks about it. When we would go carriage driving, he would take me on a different route every day, I do not know how he managed to do that, and tell me all sorts of anecdotes about anything and everything.”
(Image: LEON NEAL/AFP via Getty Images)
Lady Louise Windsor and the late Queen were reportedly very close and spent a lot of time together.
Body language expert Judi James once said: “The Queen clearly adores all her grandchildren but there are several reasons why she might have established some especially strong bonds with Sophie and Edward’s daughter Lady Louise.
The Queen has been seen looking rather unusually spontaneously tactile with both Sophie and Louise in public and this suggests a very relaxed relationship with both of them.
Like her mother Sophie, who the Queen is clearly very close to, Louise’s body language seems to project signals of a calm, low-fuss personality with high levels of emotional empathy. She also seems to have inherited a rather regal bearing that hints at her lineage.”
(Image: Mark Cuthbert/UK Press via Getty Images)
Lady Louise was lucky as a royal child as she was able to live a relatively ordinary life. Both her and her brother spent plenty of time playing outdoors and particularly enjoyed being at Balmoral with their grandparents.
A royal insider once told The Sun: “The Queen loves the fact that Louise and James relish their time at Balmoral, and she has become particularly close to Louise, who seems to have become her favourite grandchild, closely followed by James.
“Louise also endeared herself to everyone by looking after William and Kate’s children when they were up here. Louise loves drawing and sketching and was very patiently trying to get Charlotte to do pictures of rabbits and deer.”
(Image: Indigo/Getty Images)
