The youngest granddaughter of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip has just graduated from St. Andrew’s University in Scotland and given a very clear answer to an ongoing royal question.
Lady Louise Mountbatten-Windsor took part in the traditional graduation ceremony following the completion of her honours degree.
She’s been studying English at the university which is also famous for being the alma mater of the Prince and Princess of Wales.
As she prepared to collect her degree, Louise was introduced by her full name, clearing up the confusion about how she is known.
For years, there’s been debate about whether she’s Louise Windsor or Louise Mountbatten-Windsor.
In this very public and formal ceremony, she was called forward as Louise Mountbatten-Windsor, underlining the fact that she is known by the name that Elizabeth II decreed all her descendants with non royal titles could use.
In 1960, the late Queen said that all her children and grandchildren who weren’t HRH could be known as Mountbatten-Windsor, melding her own dynastic name with the surname of her husband who was part of the Mountbatten family.
When Louise was bornin, 2003, her parents, the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh, said she would be known as Lady Louise Mountbatten-Windsor but since then, she has often been called just Louise Windsor.
Now, the 22 year old has made it clear how she prefers to be knowon.
However, there was no title for Louise at the graduation ceremony. She was called Louise, rather than Lady Louise. When her cousin, the Prince of Wales, graduated in 2005, he also dropped his title. The now heir to the throne was called forward to receive his degree as William Wales.
The graduation marks the end of a happy and successful time at university for Lady Louise who has taken on holiday jobs during her breaks from studying.
As she prepares to start a new chapter in her life, speculation will once again rise over whether or not Louise will become a full time working member of the Royal Family.
Both her parents have busy diaries of official engagements and Louise has been praised in the past for her confidence and warmth. She, however, has made it clear that she enjoys life away from the royal spotlight and worked contentedly at a garden centre and at the latest Royal Windsor Horse Show.
She’ll be leaving university just as her younger brother packs his bags to head to college.
James, the Earl of Wessex, is completing his A Levels and is expected to head off to take a degree in the autumn.
Both James and Louise are entitled to use royal titles but they and their parents have always chosen for them not to.
Under the 1917 Letters Patent, issued by King George V, they could be HRH and Prince/ Princess as both are grandchildren of a Monarch in the male line. In 1999, when Edward and Sophie married, Buckingham Palace issued a press release saying that any future children would use the titles of the offspring of an earl – at the time, their parents were the Earl and Countess of Wessex. However, Sophie revealed in an interview years later, that the option of HRH remained and it was up to her children to decide whether to take it up or not.
Given Lady Louise’s determination to make her own way in the world, the chances of her swapping Mountbatten-Windsor for an HRH any time soon look low.
