His Royal Highness, Prince Louis of Cambridge!
On Friday, four days after Kate Middleton gave birth to her third child, the Duchess of Cambridge and her husband, Prince William, announced the baby boy’s name in a statement from Kensington Palace.
The little brother of Prince George and Princess Charlotte is named Louis Arthur Charles and will be known as Prince Louis of Cambridge.
Obviously the royals didn’t use a baby name generator when picking out the regal moniker, so what is the significance of Prince Louis’ name?
Well, Prince William and Prince Charles both share the middle name “Arthur,” while Prince Harry has the middle name Charles, clearly after his and Williams’ father. William, along with Louis’ older brother, Prince George, also have the middle name Louis, which is believed to be a tribute to Louis Mountbatten.
Lord Mountbatten played a key role in the relationship between Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip, William’s grandparents, and was uncle to Prince Philip. He was also closely related to the royal family by way of his great grandmother, Queen Victoria.
Another possible reason for the namesake is that Mountbatten was close with a young Prince Charles before he died in 1979. William and Harry’s father reportedly took his death very hard. In fact, it is said that Princess Diana’s acknowledgement of the impact of Lord Mountbatten’s death on him was what first attracted Charles to her.
In Andrew Morton’s 1992 book, Diana: Her True Story, the late Princess of Wales recalled saying to Charles, “You looked so sad when you walked up the aisle at the funeral. It was the most tragic thing I’ve ever seen. My heart bled for you when I watched it. I thought: ‘It’s wrong, you are lonely, you should be with somebody to look after you.’”
According to the book, these words prompted Charles to suddenly become very affectionate towardss Diana, leading to their eventual marriage.
Some of the top predicted names — including Philip, Thomas, Albert, and Henry, as a nod to Prince Harry — were not used. Clearly Prince Harry has no hard feelings as he announced earlier this week that Prince William will be his best man in his May 19 royal wedding to Meghan Markle.
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