The weekend of historic celebrations for King Charles III and Queen Camilla’s Coronation concluded with The Big Help Out, an initiative spanning throughout the entire UK encouraging all citizens to lend a hand and do some volunteer work.
The Prince and Princess of Wales were among those who did so, and, on Monday, 8th May, they arrived at the 3rd Upton Scouts Hut in Slough, Berkshire, with a surprisingly large party of helpers: the heirs to the throne were joined by their three children, Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis.
None of them wasted any time and pretty quickly they were all assigned a job in helping this specific Scouts group renovate their hut.
Prince George tried his hand with a drill, while Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis painted. Later on, both Princes took turns in joining their father in operating a digger, with Prince George going in first.
When 5-year-old Prince Louis saw him, he approached his mum and asked to have a turn; he then sat on his father’s knee and took charge of the digger’s controls, only to be slightly startled when, touching a lever, the digger slightly moved backwards.
But Prince William encouraged him by telling him: “That’s it, Louis, keep going”. Meanwhile, Prince George and Princess Charlotte were trying their hands at archery, with the Princess showing a hidden talent for the sport, hitting a bullseye on her first try. Later, Prince Louis also gave the bow and arrow a try, under the watchful eye of his mum.
According to a Buckingham Palace spokesperson, this event counts as the young Prince’s first official engagement.
When it came to Prince George, he opted to go against his parents, with both Prince William and the Princess of Wales taking the competition very seriously, in images that reminded many Royal fans of the archery lessons the then-Duke and Duchess of Cambridge took during their 2016 tour to Bhutan.
After a lot of hard work, it was time for some more relaxed activities: all five family members left their handprints on a wall, together with the rest of those from people who also volunteered.
Prince Louis wasn’t satisfied with his first attempts, and ended up leaving four handprints on the wall, proudly pointing them out to his sister, who joined in shortly after. Members of the Scouts’ 3rd Upton group then wrote down their names, with Royal fans spotting a mistake, as they spelled the Princess of Wales’ name as “Katherine”, rather than “Catherine”.
Prince Louis also revealed his ambitions for the future. As a lady asked him if he wanted to be a painter in the future, he replied: “No, a fighter pilot”, demonstrating that the flying gene is strong in the family.
Undoubtedly, some Royal fans would have been disappointed, as they had demonstrated interest in having Prince Louis over for future projects, with people writing on Twitter: “I could use him in the garden. Impressive!”, and “He’s not mucking about with little loads either, really getting stuck in”.
And finally, some sweet treats: the entire family was seen roasting marshmallows on a fire pit, before they stuck them in two biscuits and some chocolate – what Americans call a s’more.
Before leaving, Prince William confessed to another volunteer that his children were “so tired” after three days of celebrations, and that he was worried about waking his children up for school on Tuesday.
According to Buckingham Palace, this was Prince Louis’ first official engagement, and once again, the five-years-old Royal stole the show. It seems like the Prince and Princess of Wales are slowly introducing their children into the spotlight that they will have to learn to navigate as the sons and daughter of the heir to the British throne.
