Pictures from the Trooping the Colour Ceremony

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British Royal Family, Her Majesty the Queen, Platinum Jubilee, Prince Louis of Cambridge, Trooping the Colour. Buckingham Palace

Pic of the day from the Trooping the Colour. Her Majesty the Queen with her great-grandson Prince Louis of Cambridge.

Her Majesty the Queen with Prince Louis of Cambridge

Members of the Royal Family join the Queen on the balcony of Buckingham Palace watching planes fly over. The Trooping the Colour ceremony begins the Platinum Jubilee celebrations honor Her Majesty’s 70 years on the throne.

Happy 2nd Birthday to HRH Prince Louis of Cambridge.

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1917 Letter's Patent, Catherine Middleton, Duchess of Cambridge, Duke of Cambridge, Prince George of Cambridge, Prince Louis of Cambridge, Prince William of Wales, Princess Charlotte of Cambridge, Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom

Prince Louis of Cambridge (Louis Arthur Charles; born April 23, 2018) is a member of the British Royal Family. He is the third and youngest child and second son of the Duke of Cambridge, and Duchess of Cambridge. He is fifth in the line of succession to the British throne.

On April 27, 2018, it was announced that the baby had been named Louis Arthur Charles, the first and last names honouring his paternal great-great-great-uncle Lord Mountbatten (born HSH Prince Louis of Battenberg) and his paternal grandfather the Prince of Wales, respectively.

Title and succession

Louis is from birth a Prince of the United Kingdom, entitled to the style of Royal Highness. Under the 1917 Letters Patent issued by King George V (1910-1936) Louis would not have been entitled without the dignity Prince of the United Kingdom and the style of Royal Highness.

The Letters Patent, dated November 30, 1917, stated that “the children of any Sovereign of these Realms and the children of the sons of any such Sovereign (as per the Letters Patent of 1864) and the eldest living son of the eldest son of the Prince of Wales (a modification of the Letters Patent of 1898) shall have and at all times hold and enjoy the style, title or attribute of Royal Highness with their titular dignity of Prince or Princess prefixed to their respective Christian names or with their other titles of honour”.

Louis, as a younger son of the eldest living son of the eldest son of the Prince of Wales he would not have met the requirements to be a Prince of the United Kingdom. It was very rare that a reigning sovereign would live long enough to have great-grand children. The birth of Princess Charlotte was the first British Royal to have been exempted from a title under the 1917 Letters Patent.

On December 31, 2012 Queen Elizabeth II made an amendment to the 1917 Letters Patent by issuing a Letters Patent which gave the title and style His/Her Royal Highness and Prince/Princess of the United Kingdom to all the children of the Prince of Wales’s eldest son. Therefore at birth Louis was thus styled “His Royal Highness Prince Louis of Cambridge”.

Prince Louis is fifth in the line of succession to the British throne, behind his grandfather, father and older siblings, Prince George and Princess Charlotte.

Prince Louis, is the first British Prince to be ranked behind an elder sister in the line of succession following the implementation of the Perth Agreement.

The Perth Agreement is an agreement made by the prime ministers of the sixteen countries of the Commonwealth of Nations which retain the Westminster model of constitutional monarchy (“the Commonwealth realms”). The document agreed to amend the succession to the British throne (and ancillary matters). The institutional and constitutional principles of Commonwealth realms are greatly and at root shared equally as enacted in 1931. The changes, in summary, comprised: replacing male-preference primogeniture ― under which males take precedence over females in the royal succession ― with absolute primogeniture (which does not distinguish gender as a succession criterion); ending disqualification of any person who had married Roman Catholics; and that only six people closest to the throne require the monarch’s permission to marry.

Happy 71st Birthday to HRH The Prince of Wales

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Archie Mountbatten-Windsor, Duke of Cambridge, Duke of Edinburgh, Duke of Sussex, Elizabeth II, King George VI of the United Kingdom, Prince Charles, Prince George of Cambridge, Prince Louis of Cambridge, Prince of Wales, Prince Philip Duke of Edinburgh, Princess Charlotte of Cambridge

In honor of the 71st birthday of HRH the Prince of Wales I will repost an amended entry from last years posting on his birthday.

His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales was born Prince Charles Philip Arthur George; on this day November 14, 1948. One month earlier, King George VI had issued letters patent allowing her children to use the style and title of a royal prince or princess, to which they otherwise would not have been entitled as these styles and titles did not pass through the female line. Without the issuing of these Letters Patent Charles would have been called Charles Mountbatten, Earl of Merioneth. However, when his mother succeeded to the throne Charles would have become a Prince and Royal Highness as the son of the sovereign.

At the time of his birth he was the eldest son and eldest child to HRH The Duchess of Edinburgh (Princess Elizabeth) and her husband HRH The Duke of Edinburgh (Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark). Prince Charles was born second in line to the throne and was the first grandchild of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth. He was baptised in the palace’s Music Room by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Geoffrey Fisher, on December 15, 1948.

The death of his grandfather and the accession of his mother as Queen Elizabeth II in 1952 made Charles her heir apparent. As the monarch’s eldest son, he automatically took the titles Duke of Cornwall, Duke of Rothesay, Earl of Carrick, Baron of Renfrew, Lord of the Isles and Prince and Great Steward of Scotland. Charles attended his mother’s coronation at Westminster Abbey on June 2, 1953. He is the oldest and longest-serving heir apparent in British history. He is also the longest-serving Prince of Wales, having held that title since 1958.

Charles was created Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester on July 26, 1958, though his investiture was not held until July 1, 1969, when he was crowned by his mother in a televised ceremony held at Caernarfon Castle. He took his seat in the House of Lords in 1970, and he made his maiden speech at a debate in June 1974, becoming the first royal to speak in the Lords since his great-great-grandfather, later Edward VII, also speaking as Prince of Wales, in 1884. Charles began to take on more public duties, founding The Prince’s Trust in 1976, and travelling to the United States in 1981.

In 1981, he married Lady Diana Spencer and they had two sons: Prince William (b. 1982)—later to become Duke of Cambridge—and Prince Henry (b. 1984)—later to become Duke of Sussex. In 1996, the couple divorced following well-publicised extramarital affairs by both parties. Diana was killed in a car crash in Paris the following year. In 2005, Charles married long-time friend Camilla Parker Bowles. Instead of assuming her rightful title of HRH Princess of Wales, Camilla has assumed the title Duchess of Cornwall.

The Prince of Wales is also a grandfather. His four grandchildren are: HRH Prince George of Cambridge (b. 2013), HRH Princess Charlotte of Cambridge (b. 2015), HRH Prince Louis of Cambridge (b. 2018), and Archie Mountbatten-Windsor (b. 2019).

My thoughts.

I have watched the BBC special on the Prince of Wales 70th Birthday. It is an excellent program that highlights his life without being biographical. One of the issues he put to rest was if he’ll continue with his charities and other issues he is passionate about. He said he would not and that he understands the differences between the role he is in now and the role he will someday take on. This puts to rest the question, the rumor, that the Prince would reign differently than his mother when he becomes king. The fear has been that if the Prince of Wales continues with his charities and causes he may overstep his constitutional bounds as king and meddle in affairs of State. I for one am glad to hear he will not for it will maintain the tradition of the Crown being above Party Politics.

I have a great admiration for the Prince of Wales. He is an intelligent, articulate man with warmth and charm and a sense of humor and very personable. He has a passionate care and concern for the environment and the wellbeing of people in general. Though he has been in training for his ultimate role of king for years he has carved out his own meaningful life and identity and developed qualities that will serve him well as king. Though I hope it will be many more years before the Prince of Wales assumes the august role for which he was born, in his own time I believe the personal qualities he possesses will enable the Prince to become an excellent king and a noble servant to his nation. God bless the Prince of Wales.

The Name Louis and the British Royal Family: Conclusion

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British Monarchy, Emperor Alexander II of Russia, Grand Duke Louis IV of Hesse, Grand Dukes of Hesse and By Rhine, Holy Roman Empire, Kings and Queens of Great Britain, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt, Lous Mountbatten, Philip I of Hesse, Prince Louis of Battenberg, Prince Louis of Cambridge, Queen Victoria, Viceroy of India

For the final and largest connection to the name Louis to the British Royal Family we turn to the Mountbatten family, also known as the House of Battenberg, the maternal side of the Duke of Edinburgh’s family which originates in the Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt in the Holy Roman Empire. Here is a little background on the German Hessian dynasty.

Royal Standard of the Grand Dukes of Hesse and By Rhine

The House of Hesse is a European dynasty, directly descended from the House of Reginar that were a family of magnates in Lower Lotharingia during the Carolingianand Ottonian period. They were the ancestors of the House of Brabant, Landgraves and later Dukes of Brabant, Dukes of Lothier and Dukes of Limburg. The Reginarid Brabant dynasty ended in 1355, leaving its duchies to the House of Luxembourg which in turn left them to the House of Valois-Burgundy in 1383. Junior branches of the male line include the medieval male line of the English House of Percy, Earls of Northumberland, and the German House of Hesse which ruled Hesse from 1264 until 1918 and still exist. Louis, or the German derivation, Ludwig, was a frequently used name within the dynasty.

In the early Middle Ages the territory of Hessengau, named after the Germanic Chatti tribes, formed the northern part of the German stem duchy of Franconia, along with the adjacent Lahngau. Upon the extinction of the ducal Conradines, these Rhenish Franconian counties were gradually acquired by Landgrave Louis I of Thuringia and his successors. The origins of the House of Hesse begin with the marriage of Sophie of Thuringia to Heinrich II, Duke of Brabant from the House of Reginar. Sophia of Thuringia was daughter of Louis IV, Landgrave of Thuringia and Elizabeth of Hungary. Sophie was the heiress of Hesse which she passed on to her son, Heinrich I, Landgrave of Hesse upon her retention of the territory following her partial victory in the War of the Thuringian Succession in which she was one of the belligerents.

From the late 16th century, after the reign of Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse (1509-1567) it was generally divided into several branches, the most important of which were those of Hesse-Kassel (or Hesse-Cassel) and Hesse-Darmstadt. In the early 19th century the Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel was elevated to Elector of Hesse (1803), while the Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt became the Grand Duke of Hesse (1806), later Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine. The Electorate of Hesse (Hesse-Kassel) was annexed by Prussia in 1866, while Grand Ducal Hesse (Hesse-Darmstadt) remained a sovereign realm until the end of the German monarchies in 1918.

Landgrave Louis X of Hesse-Darmstadt was the son of Louis IX, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt, and succeeded his father in 1790. He presided over a significant increase in territory for Hesse-Darmstadt during the imperial reorganizations of 1801-1803, most notably the Duchy of Westphalia, hitherto subject to the Archbishop of Cologne. Allied to Napoleon, Louis in 1806 was elevated to the title of a Grand Duke of Hesse and joined the Confederation of the Rhine, leading to the dissolution of the Empire. At the Congress of Vienna in 1814/15, Louis had to give up his Westphalian territories, but was compensated with the district of Rheinhessen, with his capital Mainz on the left bank of the Rhine. Because of this addition, he amended his title to Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine.

Louis II (December 26, 1777 – June 16, 1848) was Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine from April 6 1830 until March 5, 1848 (He resigned in the German Revolution of 1848). He was the son of Louis I, Grand Duke of Hesse and Princess Louise of Hesse-Darmstadt. He was married to Wilhelmine of Baden who was his first cousin. Through her, Louis had four surviving children – Grand Duke Louis III of Hesse and By Rhine (June 9, 1806, Darmstadt – June 13, 1877,), Prince Charles, Prince Alexander, and Princess Marie, the wife of Emperor Alexander II of Russia. The last two, however, are speculated to have been fathered by Baron August von Senarclens de Grancy, the longtime lover of Wilhelmine of Baden.

It is Louis II’s second son Prince Charles of Hesse and by Rhine (April 23, 1809 – March 20, 1877) to where we turn our focus. Prince Charles was married to Princess Elisabeth of Prussia (June 18, 1815 – March 21, 1885), the second daughter of Prince Wilhelm of Prussia and Landgravine Marie Anna of Hesse-Homburg and a granddaughter of King Friedrich-Wilhelm II of Prussia. She is the great-great grandmother of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.

Grand Duke Louis IV of Hesse and By Rhine

Prince Charles and Princess Elisabeth’s eldest son was Prince Louis (September 1837 – March 13, 1892) and he was born at the Prinz-Karl-Palais in Darmstadt, the capital of the Grand Duchy of Hesse and by Rhine in the German Confederation. Prince Louis was from birth, second-in-line to the grand ducal throne, after his father. On July 1, 1862, Louis married Princess Alice, the third child of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight. On the day of the wedding, the Queen issued a royal warrant granting her new son-in-law the style of Royal Highness in the United Kingdom. The Queen also subsequently made Prince Louis a knight of the Order of the Garter. Louis became Grand Duke Louis IV of Hesse and By Rhine on June 13, 1877. Their eldest daughter, Princess Victoria, born 1863, will feature again in our story.

Prince Alexander of Hesse and By Rhine

The next important Prince in our story is Prince Alexander Ludwig Georg Friedrich Emil of Hesse and By Rhine GCB (July 15, 1823 – December 18, 1888). Prince Alexander was the third son and fourth child of Louis II, Grand Duke of Hesse and Wilhelmina of Baden. He was a brother of Tsarina Maria Alexandrovna. The Battenberg/Mountbatten family descends from Alexander and his wife Countess Julia von Hauke, a former lady-in-waiting to his sister.

Alexander fell in love with Countess Julia Hauke, lady-in-waiting to his sister, future Tasrina Maria Alexandrovna. Countess Hauke, was an orphaned German-Polish ward of the Russian Emperor, and daughter of the Emperor’s former minister of war. At that time, the Emperor Nicholas I was considering Alexander as a possible husband for his niece and, when he heard of Alexander’s romance, he forbade the couple to marry.

Alexander left Russia for England to contemplate his future, but then returned to Russia and eloped with Julia from St. Petersburg, resulting in exile and being stricken by the Emperor’s orders from the roll of the Russian imperial army for insubordination. The two were married in Breslau in 1851. Alexander’s older brother Louis III, Grand Duke of Hesse, allowed him to re-patriate to Hesse with his bride, although he did not recognize their marriage as dynastic. He granted her the new, hereditary title of Countess von Battenberg with the style Illustrious Highness (H.Ill.H.). (Battenberg was a small town and ruined castle in the north of the grand duchy which, according to the memoirs of their eldest child Marie, the family visited once during her youth, although it never became their residence).

In 1858 Grand Duke Louis III elevated Countess von Battenberg’s title to that of Princess of Battenberg with the style Serene Highness (HSH). The children of Alexander and Julia thus bore the title of Prince (German: Prinz) or Princess (German: Prinzessin) and the style Serene Highness (German: Durchlaucht). Battenberg thus became the name of a morganatic cadet branch of the Grand Ducal family of Hesse, without right of succession.

The name Battenberg was last used by her youngest son, Prince Francis Joseph of Battenberg, who died childless in 1924. Most members of the family, residing in the United Kingdom, had renounced their German titles in 1917, due to rising anti-German sentiment among the British public during World War I, and changed their name to Mountbatten, an anglicised version of Battenberg.

The eldest son of Prince Alexander of Hesse and By Rhine and Princess Julia of Battenberg was Prince Louis Alexander of Battenberg (May 24, 1854 – September 11, 1921), born six months after their elopement. Although born in Austria, and brought up in Italy and Germany, he enrolled in the United Kingdom’s Royal Navy at the age of fourteen. Queen Victoria and her son King Edward VII, then Prince of Wales, occasionally intervened in his career.

Prince Louis of Battenberg (Louis Mountbatten the 1st Marquess of Milford Haven)

Prince Louis of Battenberg married his father’s first cousin, the aforementioned Princess Victoria of Hesse and Rhine, the daughter of Grand Duke Louis IV of Hesse and By Rhine and Princess Alice of the United Kingdom and a granddaughter of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.

In 1912, after a naval career lasting more than forty years, Prince Louis of Battenberg was appointed First Sea Lord, the professional head of the British naval service. With World War I looming, he took steps to ready the British fleet for combat, but his background as a German prince forced his retirement once the war began, when anti-German sentiment was running high. In 1917 when anti-German sentiment had reached its zenith, Prince Louis changed his name to Mountbatten, the Anglicized name for Battenberg and relinquished his German titles, at the behest of King George V. In return for giving up his German titles, and for his many years of service in the British Navy, King George V created Louis Mountbatten the 1st Marquess of Milford Haven.

The Marquess of Milford Haven and Princess Victoria of Hesse and By Rhine (Marchioness of Milford Haven) were the parents of four children.

1. George Mountbatten, 2nd Marquess of Milford Haven.
2. Louise Mountbatten, second wife of King Gustaf VI Adolph of Sweden.
3. Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma.
4. Princess Alice of Battenberg who married Prince Andreas of Greece and Denmark (prior to the relinquishment of her German title) and were the parents of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, consort of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom.

Admiral of the Fleet Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma

This brings us to the person with the name of Louis who had a great influence on today’s British Royal Family. Admiral of the Fleet, Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, KG, GCB, OM, GCSI, GCIE, GCVO, DSO, PC, FRS (June 25, 1900 – August 27, 1979) second son of Prince Louis of Battenberg and Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine (Marquess and Marchioness of Milford Haven). Since Lord Mountbatten was born 17 years prior to his family relinquishing their German titles, Lord Louis was born HSH Prince Louis of Battenberg.

Lord Louis was a British Royal Navy officer and statesman, a maternal uncle of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and second cousin once removed of Queen Elizabeth II. Despite his family’s Hessian foreign origins, he was born in the United Kingdom, and was considered a member of the Royal Family both due to his descent from Queen Victoria and his close blood relation to Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh. During the Second World War, he was Supreme Allied Commander, South East Asia Command (1943–1946). He was the last Viceroy of India (1947) and the first Governor-General of independent India (1947–1948).

From 1954 to 1959, Mountbatten was First Sea Lord, a position that had been held by his father, Prince Louis of Battenberg, some forty years earlier. Thereafter he served as Chief of the Defence Staff until 1965, making him the longest serving professional head of the British Armed Forces to date. During this period Mountbatten also served as Chairman of the NATO Military Committee for a year.

In 1979, Lord Mountbatten, his grandson Nicholas, and two others were murdered by a bomb set by members of the Provisional Irish Republican Army, hidden aboard his fishing boat in Mullaghmore, County Sligo, Ireland.

Lord Mountbatten was close to the British Royal Family and had a profound affect on the current Prince of Wales who considered his great-uncle to be his honorary grandfather. His influence is felt in many ways, one of them being his name lives on in members of the Royal Family.

Here is a list of the current members of the Royal Family that have the name Louis among their names.

1. Lord Frederick Windsor (Frederick Michael George David Louis; born April 6, 1979), also nicknamed Freddie Windsor, is a British financial analyst, and the only son of Prince and Princess Michael of Kent.

He is a first cousin once removed of Queen Elizabeth II and a first cousin twice removed of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. He is 47th in the line of succession to the British throne. Lord Frederick and his sister, Lady Gabriella, were brought up in the Church of England. I do not believe his name of Louis is after Lord Mountbatten.

2. HRH. Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex, KG, GCVO, CD, ADC(P) (Edward Antony Richard Louis; born March 10, 1964) is the youngest of four children and the third son of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. At the time of his birth, he was third in line of succession to the British throne; he is now tenth.

HRH The Duke of Cambridge

3. HRH. Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, KG, KT, PC, ADC(P) (William Arthur Philip Louis; born June 21, 1982) is a member of the British royal family. He is the elder son of Charles, Prince of Wales, and Diana, Princess of Wales, and since birth has been second in the line of succession to the British throne, after his father.

4. HRH. Prince George of Cambridge (George Alexander Louis; born July 22, 2013) is a member of the British royal family. He is the eldest child and elder son of Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, and third in the line of succession to the British throne. As he is expected to become king, his birth was widely celebrated across the Commonwealth realms.

HRH Prince Louis of Cambridge

5. Prince Louis of Cambridge (Louis Arthur Charles; born April 23, 2018) is a member of the British royal family. He is the third and youngest child and second son of Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge. He is fifth in the line of succession to the British throne.

The Name Louis and the British Monarchy: IV

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Frederick Louis Prince of Wales, Frederick William I of Prussia, Hanover, House of Hanover, King George II of Great Britain, Kingdom of Prussia, Kings and Queens of Great Britain, Louis, Prince Louis of Cambridge, Prince of Wales, Queen Caroline

The next prince on my list in this examination of the name of Louis and its association with the British Royal Family is HRH Frederick-Louis, Prince of Wales, KG (February 1, 1707 – March 31, 1751). He was heir apparent to the British throne from 1727 until his death from a lung injury at the age of 44 in 1751. He was the eldest son King George II and Caroline of Ansbach, and the father of King George III.

HRH Prince Frederick-Louis, Prince of Wales and Duke of Edinburgh


Under the Act of Settlement passed by the English Parliament in 1701, Frederick-Louis was born fourth in the line of succession to the British throne, after his great-grandmother (Electress Sophia of Hanover), paternal grandfather (King George I) and father (George II). All of these relatives were alive at the time of his birth. Prince Frederick-Louis was born in Hanover, Holy Roman Empire (Germany), as Duke Friedrich-Ludwig of Brunswick-Lüneburg, His paternal great-grandmother, Sophia of Hanover, a granddaughter of James I-VI, King of England, Scotland and Ireland, was cousin and heir presumptive to Queen Anne of Great Britain. When Sophia died before Anne at age 83 in June 1714, this elevated elevated Elector George-Louis to heir-presumptive.

Queen Anne died on August 1, of that same year, and Sophia’s son became King George I. This made Frederick-Louis’s father the new Prince of Wales and first-in-line to the British throne and Frederick-Louis himself became second-in-line.


In 1726 Frederick-Louis’ grandfather, George I, created him Duke of Edinburgh, Marquess of the Isle of Ely, Earl of Eltham in the county of Kent, Viscount of Launceston in the county of Cornwall, and Baron of Snaudon in the county of Carnarvon. The latter two titles have been interpreted differently since – the ofs are omitted and Snaudon rendered as Snowdon.

Frederick-Louis spent much of his early life in Hanover even after his grandfather and father moved to England. Frederick-Louis arrived in England in 1728 as a grown man, the year after his father had become King George II. By then, George II and Caroline had had several younger children, and Frederick-Louis, created Prince of Wales January 8th 1729, was a high-spirited youth fond of drinking, gambling and women. The long separation damaged the parent-child relationship, and they would never be close.

With Frederick-Louis now in England it was time for him to settle down and start to raise a family. Negotiations between George II and his brother-in-law Friedrich-Wilhelm I of Prussia on a proposed marriage between the Prince of Wales and Friedrich-Wilhelm I’s daughter, Wilhelmine, were welcomed by Frederick-Louis even though the couple had never met. George II was not keen on the proposal but continued talks for diplomatic reasons. Frustrated by the delay, Frederick-Louis sent an envoy of his own to the Prussian court. When King George II discovered the plan, he immediately arranged for Frederick-Louis to leave Hanover for England. The marriage negotiations ultimately collapsed when Friedrich-Wilhelm I demanded that Frederick-Louis be made Regent in Hanover which meant he’d have the power and authority as Elector of Hanover, just not the tittle. George II would have none of that!

Frederick-Louis also almost married Lady Diana Spencer, daughter of Charles Spencer, 3rd Earl of Sunderland and Lady Anne Churchill. Lady Diana was the favourite grandchild of the powerful Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough. The duchess sought a royal alliance by marrying Lady Diana to the Prince of Wales with a massive dowry of £100,000. The prince, who was in great debt, agreed to the proposal, but the plan was vetoed by Robert Walpole, Prime Minister of the day, and by King George II himself. Lady Diana instead married John Russell, 4th Duke of Bedford.

Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg HRH The Princess of Wales

After a marriage with Lady Diana Spencer did not come to fruition, king George II was visiting Hanover when Queen Caroline suggested that Frederick-Louis visit Saxe-Gotha to view the princesses there. The princess that caught his eye was Princess Augusta. Princess Augusta was born in Gotha to Friedrich II, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg (1676–1732) and Magdalena Augusta of Anhalt-Zerbst (1676–1740). Her paternal grandfather was Friedrich I, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg, eldest surviving son of Ernst I, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg.

When Frederick-Louis informed his mother that he considered Augusta suitable, the marriage was swiftly decided upon. Frederick-Louis simply stated that he accepted any bride his father would decide for him. His motive in seeking an early marriage was not because he’d fallen in love with Princess Augusta, his motive was to obtain an additional allowance from Parliament in order to be financially independent of his father, whom he detested.

The Prince and Princess of Wales and family

Princess Augusta did not speak French or English, and the British Court suggested that she be given language lessons before the wedding. Since British royal family was originally from Germany and since Frederick-Louis also spoke German, Princess Augusta‘s mother did not consider it necessary for her daughter to learn English. Therefore she arrived in Britain speaking virtually no English, for a wedding ceremony which took place almost immediately, on 8 May 1736, at the Chapel Royal in St James’s Palace, London.

The union was presided over by Edmund Gibson, Bishop of London and Dean of the Chapel Royal. Handel provided the new anthem ‘Sing unto God’ for the service and the wedding was also marked in London by two rival operas, Handel’s Atalanta and Porpora’s La festa d’Imeneo.

The royal couple had 9 children (5 sons and 4 daughters) with Prince George being the eldest, born 1738. Frederick-Louis died at Leicester House at the age of 44 in 1751. In the past this has been attributed to a burst lung abscess caused by a blow from a cricket or a real tennis ball, but it is now thought to have been from a pulmonary embolism. He was buried at Westminster Abbey on April 13, 1751.

Prince George inherited his father’s title of Duke of Edinburgh. George II showed more interested in his grandson and three weeks after the death of the Prince of Wales the King created George Prince of Wales, a title that is not automatically inherited.

Britain would not have a King Frederick-Louis and this was the closest they would come to a King with the name Louis.

The name Louis and the British Monarchy: III

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Frederick the Great of Prussia, Frederick William I of Prussia, King George I of Great Britain, Kingdom of Prussia, Kings and Queens of Great Britain, Louis, Prince Louis of Cambridge, Sophia Dorothea of Great Britain

As we continue to examine the name Louis and its association with the British monarchy this next entry does stray a bit from a rigid definition of the British Royal Family. For these next examples they were not members of the British Royal Family technically speaking; they were members of the king’s family. This is a distinction that does have a difference. Though these examples were members of the German House of Hanover that ruled over Prussia, they were also the grandchildren of King George I of Great Britain.

Sophia-Dorothea of Great Britain and Hanover

King George I had one daughter, Sophia Dorothea. On November 28, 1706, she married her paternal cousin, Crown Prince Frederick William of Prussia, heir apparent to the Prussian throne. The Crown Prince’s mother, was Princess Sophia of Hanover, brother of King George I of Great Britain, and wife of King Frederick I in Prussia. Sophia -Dorothea and Frederick-William had met as children when Frederick-William had spent some time in Hanover under the care of their grandmother. Sophia-Dorothea disliked him, however, Frederick-William had reportedly felt an attraction to her early on.

Sophia-Dorothea was described as tall, with a beautiful slender figure, graceful and dignified with big blue eyes. She was seen as quite attractive at the time of her marriage and was described as charming in her manners, and made a good impression in Berlin.

Sophia-Dorothea and Frederick-William were different from one another and were ill suited for one another and the marriage suffered as a result. Sophia-Dorothea was a cultured princess with a strong interested in art, science, literature and fashion, while Frederick-William was described as an unpolished, uneducated and spartan military man with rough manners. Sophia Dorothea loved entertainment, something he regarded to be frivolous and this was a major source of friction between them.

Frederick-William I, King in Prussia

Though Frederick-William was never unfaithful to her, a rare trait in a Royal prince of those days, he was unable to win her affection. At one point Frederick-William contemplated divorcing her the same year they married and, judging by her letters, accused her of not wanting to be married to him. It seems that was a correct assumption. Despite great animosity between the couple they seemed to be compatible in the bedroom. Between 1707 and 1730 the couple had 14 children, 10 survived to adulthood.

The name Louis was found among three of their sons, and the feminine form Louise was found among the names of two of their daughters. The first child, a son, was born in 1707 and christened Frederick-Louis, and his birth was celebrated greatly in Prussia. Sadly the next year, 1708 Frederick-Louis died. Sophia-Dorothea’s physicians declared was not likely to conceive again.

This declaration of her possible future barrenness prompted her father-in-law, Frederick I, King in Prussia, to marry Sophia-Louise of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, to insure the succession to the Prussian throne. However, Sophia-Louise had no children by him. It is interesting to note that shortly before wedding the king had been informed that his daughter-in-law (Sophia-Dorothea) was pregnant, and answered that had he been aware of this, he would not have married again. Despite the declaration by her physicians Sophia-Dorothea did give birth to several children, as previously mentioned, including Frederick II The Great, King of Prussia (1740-1786).

The next child of Sophia-Dorothea of Great Britain and Hanover and Frederick-William I, King in Prussia which had with the name of Louis among them was HRH Prince Frederick-Henry-Louis of Prussia, January 18, 1726 and died August 3, 1802, was commonly known as Henry. He also served as a general and statesman, leading Prussian armies in the Silesian Wars and the Seven Years’ War, having never lost a battle in the latter. In 1786, he was suggested as a candidate for a monarch for the United States, prior to the decision to become a Republic.


The last child of Sophia-Dorothea of Great Britain and Hanover and Frederick-William I, King in Prussia which had with the name of Louis among them was HRH Prince Louis-Charles-Wilhelm, born in 1717 and died sadly in 1719 at the age of two.

This concludes a look at the grandchildren of King George I of Great Britain, Elector of Hanover and its association with the name Louis.

Part IV coming soon!

The name Louis and the British Monarchy

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Adela of Normandy, Alexander II of Scotland, Alfonso VIII of Castile, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Eleanor of England, Isabelle of Hainaut, King Henry II of England, King John of England, King Louis VIII of France, King Philippe II of France, King Richard I of England, Kings and Queens of England, Kings and Queens of France, Prince Louis of Cambridge, The Barons War, William the Conqueror

Though I’m a bit late with this, I wanted to look at the name Louis given to the new Prince born to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. It isn’t a name that has a large history within the British Royal Family (this includes both England and Scotland), Louis has never been used as a first name in the British Royal Family, but it does have some history as a secondary name and a name associated, or connected to, other relatives of the British Royal Family.

Today will be Part I of examining the name Louis and it’s association with the British Royal Family. The name Louis has a long tradition within the French Monarchy and various German States in its long history of monarchy.


Before I get into detail about that, did you know there was almost a King Louis of England? The future King Louis VIII of France (1223-1226) laid claim to the English throne in 1216-1217 during the First Barons’ War of 1215–17. Here is his story.

King Louis VIII of France

Throughout the reign of King John of England he has a tumultuous relationship with the English Barons. Things ignited in 1215 when King John marched against Alexander II of Scotland, who had allied himself with the rebel cause. In a swift turn of events John took back Alexander II’s possessions in northern England and in a rapid campaign and pushed up towards Edinburgh. This was all accomplished over a ten-day period.

The rebel barons responded to John’s actions by inviting the French prince Louis to lead them. Louis was the son of King Philippe II of France and Isabelle of Hainaut. Louis laid claim to the English throne by virtue of his marriage to Blanche of Castile. Blanche was the daughter of King Alfonso VIII of Castile and Eleanor of England, (Eleanor was the sixth child and second daughter of Henry II of England, and Eleanor of Aquitaine and the sister of King Richard I and King John of England) thus making Blanche of Castile a granddaughter of Henry II of England and nice of King Richard I and King John. In those days succession to the thrones of many European countries were often claimed by husbands in right of their wives who were technically in the line of succession but often did not have succession rights themselves. However, Louis was also the great-great-great grandson of William I “the Conqueror,” King of England via William’s daughter Adela of Normandy.

King John of England

Prince Louis’ father, Philippe II of France, may have provided him with private support but refused to openly support Louis. The reason for the lack of public support was that Pope Innocent III excommunicated Louis for taking part in the war against John. Louis’ planned arrival in England presented a significant problem for John, as the prince would bring with him naval vessels and siege engines essential to the rebel cause. Once John contained Alexander II in Scotland, he marched south to deal with the challenge of the coming invasion.

Prince Louis intended to land in the south of England in May 1216, and John assembled a naval force to intercept him. Unfortunately for John, his fleet was dispersed by bad storms and Louis landed unopposed in Kent. John hesitated and decided not to attack Louis immediately, either due to the risks of open battle or over concerns about the loyalty of his own men. Louis and the rebel barons advanced west and John retreated, spending the summer reorganising his defences across the rest of the kingdom. John saw several of his military household desert to the rebels, including his half-brother, William Longespée. By the end of the summer the rebels had regained the south-east of England and parts of the north.

The barons offered the throne to Prince Louis, who landed unopposed on the Isle of Thanet in eastern Kent, England, at the head of an army on May 21, 1216. There was little resistance when the prince entered London, and Louis was proclaimed “King of England” at Old St Paul’s Cathedral with great pomp and celebration in the presence of all of London on June 2, 1216. Even though he was not crowned, many nobles, as well as King Alexander II of Scotland on behalf of his English possessions, gathered to give homage. By June 14, 1216, Louis captured Winchester and soon controlled over half of the English kingdom.

With full control of England within his grasp, suddenly it all slipped away from Louis. King John died on the night of 18/19 October. Numerous – probably fictitious – accounts circulated soon after his death that he had been killed by poisoned ale, poisoned plums or a “surfeit of peaches”. With King John suddenly and unexpected gone, so was the motivation for the revolt. The Barons swiftly deserted Louis in favour of John’s nine-year-old son, the new king, Henry III.

The Earl of Pembroke was now acting regent, called for the English “to defend our land” against the French. Louis’ army was beaten at the Battle of Lincoln on May 20, 1217 and his naval forces were defeated at the Battle of Sandwich in August of 1217. Then after a failed attempt to conquer Dover Castle, Louis was forced to make peace on English terms.

The principal provisions of the Treaty of Lambeth were an amnesty for English rebels, a pledge from Louis not to attack England again, and 10,000 marks to be given to Louis. In return for this payment, Louis agreed that he never had been the legitimate king of England. Despite his losses in England, his military prowess earned him the epithet “Louis the Lion.” On July 14, 1223 Philippe II of France died and Louis the Lion became King Louis VIII of France.


This does not end the association between the name Louis and the British monarchy. Join me later this week for Part II.



HRH Prince Louis Arthur Charles of Cambridge.

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Kings and Queens of England, kings and queens of Scotland, kings and queens of the United Kingdom, Line of Succession, Louis Arthur Charles, Prince Louis of Cambridge, The Duchess of Cambridge, The Duke of Cambridge

The name of the Royal Baby: HRH Prince Louis Arthur Charles of Cambridge.

Both the Duke of Cambridge and Prince George of Cambridge have Louis among their names, as do other members of the Royal Family. This is the first member of the Royal Family to have Louis as a first name in British history.

Technically I do not count Lord Louis Mountbatten (Prince Louis of Battenberg), uncle of the Duke of Edinburgh who technically belonged to the House of Mountbatten a morganatic offshoot of the German House of Hesse and By Rhine.

Prince Louis of Cambridge is fifth in line to the throne of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-43922335H