Lady Louise Windsor’s place in the line of succession may be comfortably within the top twenty, but it does not appear to have translated into expectations of preferential travel.
According to the Daily Mail, the 22-year-old daughter of the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh was recently spotted making a decidedly unroyal journey from London to Bristol, standing – and later sitting on the floor – aboard a busy Great Western Railway service. With seats at a premium, the St Andrews undergraduate settled herself cross-legged in the aisle, tea in hand, and used the time to work on an essay.
Those travelling on the mid-morning train from Paddington reported that Lady Louise attracted little attention and appeared entirely unfazed by the lack of comfort. She was, according to fellow passengers, courteous and unassuming – qualities long associated with a royal who has largely grown up outside the glare of public life.
The scene in the train carriage was a far cry from the ceremonial carriages she is more often glimpsed, particularly at equestrian events. Lady Louise is an accomplished carriage driver, a pursuit she shared with her grandfather, the Prince Philip, who was instrumental in popularising the sport in Britain and remained devoted to it well into later life.
Prince Philip’s enthusiasm left a lasting impression on his youngest granddaughter, who has continued to compete using some of his former carriages. Their shared interest was memorably on display at the Royal Windsor Horse Show in 2022, during the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee year, when Lady Louise drove into the arena as part of a tribute to the late Duke.
On that occasion, Queen Elizabeth II watched from the stands alongside the then Earl and Countess of Wessex, visibly moved as her granddaughter took part in the commemorations. It would be one of the monarch’s final public appearances, and the moment was widely seen as a poignant expression of continuity between generations.
Lady Louise has never sought a prominent public role and does not carry the style of HRH, reflecting her parents’ long-held wish that their children should enjoy as normal an upbringing as possible. That approach appears to extend to everyday travel, whether navigating crowded train carriages or trading horse-drawn vehicles for intercity rail.
She is not the first member of the Royal Family to pass through the transport network unnoticed. Princess Anne famously took the Underground to a London Fashion Week engagement in 2020, slipping through the capital with little fanfare.
