The season for cheer, joy (and a dash of mischief…) How five-year-old Prince Louis became the heartbreaking ghost of Christmas, as these photos and videos show
Despite all the carols and tinsel, the past few days have been hard work for the senior royals.
From the Princess of Wales’s charity visits to the King’s Christmas message, the Windsors were in the spotlight.
So it stayed with the five year old Prince Louis to add a touch of spontaneity to the proceedings and put a smile on even the most hardened faces.
On Christmas Day he was as good as gold.
But a few days earlier, as his mother, brother and sister were neatly folding the clothes at the baby bench in Maidenhead, Louis threw them in the middle of the table!
Then, during his mother’s carol service at Westminster Abbey, he managed to look almost angelic in a split second as he leaned over and blew out Sister Charlotte’s candle. The video went viral.
Louis adds a touch of fun and mischief to this sometimes too serious world, as these sweet photos and videos show.
Christmas 2023
Prince Louis says ‘Mama’ as a letter from Santa Claus is read out in Westminster Abbey
Princess Charlotte, Prince Louis blowing out his candle and Catherine, Princess of Wales during the Royal Carols – Together At Christmas service at Westminster Abbey
It seems butter wouldn’t melt as Prince Louis joins Sister Charlotte at their mother’s Together At Christmas service at Westminster Abbey
But everything changes when Princess Charlotte finds her candle being blown out by her sassy sibling
A giant nutcracker soldier shows Louis how to stand still!
Prince Louis arrived at church on Christmas Day laughing, smiling and holding hands with Mia Tindall, showing a real connection between the two families. Louis wore ‘black watch’ tartan trousers that could be the same ones Prince George wore with the late Queen, his grandfather King Charles III and his father in the throne room in 2020.
Prince Louis appears fascinated by the large toy gorilla at the baby bank in Maidenhead. This followed the launch of an initiative in late November by The Royal Foundation Center for Early Childhood to support families with young children in the run-up to Christmas
Prince Louis helps his mother at the local baby bank in December 2023
The Coronation, May 2023
Catherine, Princess of Wales, is dressed as formally as possible. But Prince Louis still manages to make her laugh on the balcony at the coronation
Trooping the Colour, June 2023
One moment Prince Louis is saluting from the balcony
Next time he gets an answer to the roar of the fighter jets in the RAF fly-past
Charlotte watches her expressive brother during the Horse Guards Parade at Trooping the Colour
Platinum Parade, June 2022
No one will forget the Platinum Parade, where Louis was every photographer’s dream for facial expressions and smiles.
His parents managed to cope very well under the circumstances.
One touching moment occurred when William asked his father, then Prince of Wales, if Louis could sit on his lap.
The request was met with a resounding ‘of course’ from Charles. Louis ran to his grandfather, who bounced him on his knee and won a whole new audience of parents with young children.
A moment of spontaneous affection between mother and son – Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Louis during the Platinum Pageant on The Mall in June 2022
Louis seems to be having a good time during the parade
A rare – and touching – photo of Prince Charles in grandfather mode with happy Louis