Prince Louis turned six years old on April 24th. The young prince is fourth in the line of succession to the British throne, and even though he has a bright future in the royal sphere, one person in particular, Prince Harry, is worried about him.
Royal fans waited long for the traditional birthday picture to be published, and for long, it seemed like it wouldn’t happen. One expert argued that because of the Mother’s Day scandal, where Kate Middleton posted a manipulated picture, the royal family decided not to post a new image of Louis to prevent any conspiracy theories or negative press.
In the end, fans were overjoyed to see Prince Louis again, as Kate Middleton took a new picture of the young prince. However, according to body language expert Judi James, the latest Louis photo contained secret signals that tell us a whole story.
Prince Louis is fourth in the line of succession to the British throne. While he most likely will never be king, the young prince will, like those before him, have a crucial role as a senior royal family member in the future. However, everyone isn’t that sure of that.
The phrase “spare to the heir” has been the center of attention in later years, not least because of Prince Harry. The Duke left the royal family with his wife, Meghan Markle, and in January of last year, he released his book Spare, telling the whole world how he would never be as important as his big brother, Prince William, who will be king.
Prince Harry expressed concerns about Prince Louis’ future
In his book, Harry even remarked that King Charles had told Princess Diana, “Wonderful! Now you’ve given me an heir and a spare – my work is done,” the day he was born.
It didn’t stop there. Prince Harry also touched on Prince Louis and his older sister, Princess Charlotte, whom he says he is worried about. According to the Duke, they could end up just like him.
In an interview with The Telegraph to promote his book, Harry once again opted to talk about William and Kate’s three children.
“Though William and I have talked about it once or twice, and he has made it very clear to me that his kids are not my responsibility, I still feel a responsibility knowing that out of those three children, at least one will end up like me, the spare,” Harry said.
“And that hurts, that worries me.”
Harry continued, “I was brought into the world in case something happened to Willy, I was summoned to provide backup, distraction, diversion and, if necessary, a spare part. Kidney, perhaps. Blood transfusion. Speck of bone marrow. This was all made explicitly clear to me from the start of life’s journey and regularly reinforced thereafter.”
As per the line of succession, Prince William will ascend the throne after King Charles, with Kate Middleton becoming queen. After William, the crown will pass to Prince George, though if something should happen to him, his siblings, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis, are next in line.
“They will encourage Louis to explore life outside the royal fold”
Spare marks the first time Harry has spoken so freely about William and Kate’s children. After his comments, royal author Ingrid Seward warned him against further discussing them.
“Harry should lay off Prince William’s children. In fact, he should lay off everybody and button it now,” she told The Sun. “It is a very dangerous road to go down, to start talking about other people’s children.”
She added, “And what he says Prince William said to him is absolutely right – they are William’s responsibility and not his, so he should keep out of it. It is none of Harry’s business. But Harry has become dangerous to his family, and to himself, because he can lob in his little asides whenever he wants.”
While Prince Harry enraged both his brother and as well as Kate Middleton with many of the allegations and comments made in both his book as well as in earlier interviews, royal expert Jennie Bond says that the Prince and Princess of Wales “must be acutely aware” of the problems that could come with Prince Louis – and Princess Charlotte – being a “spare”.
“They have already shown that they have a different and modern attitude to bringing up royal children and I’m sure they will do everything to make Charlotte and Louis feel every bit as special, loved and valued as George,” Bond told the Mirror. “I imagine they will encourage Louis to explore life outside the royal fold… it could be the military, but it could also be working in the charity world or whatever he finds appealing after his education is finished. I’m sure they will encourage him to go to University, which they both enjoyed and where, of course, they found love.”
The royal expert continued, “And from there they will want him to find a life that is meaningful to him as well as appropriate for the son of a future King. They will try to ensure that he feels he is living a life of value, irrespective of his place in the line of succession and that will probably involve service of some kind as they have emphasised from the start that they want their children to understand that having empathy with others is not only a kindness, but is rewarding as well.”
As the royal tradition goes, Prince William and Kate Middleton always publish a newly taken picture on one of their children’s birthdays. It has been a highlight for royal fans, who not only get to see their favorite royals growing up through the lens but also the fact that the very talented photographer taking the photos is Kate Middleton.
Prince Louis – new picture revealed for his 6th birthday
However, for Prince Louis’ birthday, the feeling was that no picture would be published. When Kate posted the photo of her and her children for Mother’s Day earlier this year, it was the first official update on the Princess of Wales since her abdominal surgery in January.
However, things soon turned ugly, as it turned out that the picture had been poorly edited. The post was flagged as manipulated on Instagram, news agencies dropped it from their websites, and one news chief even linked the royal family to North Korea or Iran. It was pretty much only at those times that pictures were ever taken down because they were inauthentic.
It looked like no picture of Louis would be published, to many fans’ disappointment. But they didn’t have to wait long—a newly taken photo by Kate portrayed the happy birthday boy.
The cute picture portrayed Louis lying on a blanket in the garden, most likely at their home of Adelaide Cottage on the Windsor grounds. According to royal expert Rebecca English, the Prince and Princess of Wales have again shown that they are ‘human,’ as Louis wore a shirt previously owned by his older brother, Prince George. And it’s not one you buy at a luxury store.
Moreover, the royal expert revealed that Prince Louis appears to have grown very fond of a specific sport recently.
“While he still has the same warm eyes, infectious smile and general zest for life that has seen him repeatedly steal the show at royal events, the youngest child of the Prince and Princess of Wales is big enough to wear Prince George’s grown-up hand-me-downs. In this case it is a £39 Pepa & Co checked shirt in a delightful new birthday portrait taken by Kate,” English wrote for the Daily Mail.
Fans spot missing detail in latest Prince Louis photo
“And just like A.A. Milne’s famous poem, Now We Are Six – ‘I’m as clever as clever/So I think I’ll be six for ever and ever – he is said to be flying at his new school, Lambrook in Berkshire, and proving to be not just good in class but sporty and fun (cricket is his big love at the moment, apparently).”
The newly taken photo of the young prince didn’t only show the shirt. Fans were overjoyed to see Prince Louis smiling on his birthday, but one eagle-eyed fan noticed a missing detail—his tooth.
“Thank you so much for sharing this delightful picture. I see the tooth fairy has been visiting – goodness time flies so fast,” one user wrote on X, as per Express.
A second person wrote, “Happy Birthday blessings to this little ray of sunshine, Prince Louis!”
“Happy Birthday to a charming young man who has captured our hearts with his various antics. Thank you to his parents for letting him be so ‘natural’. He is a credit to you,” a third added.
It’s not strange that one tooth appears to be missing, as children begin losing them at the age of six. We will likely see more of that moving on if Prince Louis, just like Prince George did just days before, will appear in public soon.
While royal fans are excited to see the young prince becoming a year older, a body language expert has analyzed the picture. Expert Judi James has found some ‘secret signals,’ which, according to her, tell us a lot about Louis.
