Prince Louis’s choice of name pays tribute to a lesser-known, yet extremely influential member of the Royal Family, who died in 1979 nearly four decades before the cheeky young royal was born.
Prince William and Princess Kate welcomed their third child Louis Arthur Charles on April 23 2018, with one of his middle names being chosen in honour of his grandfather, King Charles.
The name Louis has been popular with many royal parents over the last few years, with William and Prince George having it as a middle name.
It was chosen in honour of Lord Louis Mountbatten, Prince Philip’s uncle and a mentor to Charles when he was a young man, who was killed by the IRA when his boat was bombed in 1979.
Lord Mountbatten had taken his family out for a fishing trip in Ireland when his boat Shadow V was targeted and blown up, killing him, his grandson Nicholas Knatchbull, a teenage boy serving as crew and his daughter’s husband’s mother Doreen Knatchbull, who died in hospital the following day.
Perhaps unsuprisingly Elizabeth is very common as a middle name for royal women, as a tribute to the late monarch and matriarch of the family.
As well as Charlotte, Lady Louise Windsor and Princess Beatrice have Elizabeth among their middle names, although the latter’s first name initially caused a stir for the royals.
When Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson had their eldest daughter in August 1988 they at first wanted to call her Annabel, but Andrew’s mother did not approve.
