Lady Louise Windsor: Sweet meaning behind Prince Edward and Sophie's daughter's name
Many royal names are passed down through centuries, such as George, Albert, William, Charles but some of the Windsors have seemingly more modern monikers, such as Lady Louise Windsor.
So what's the meaning behind her name?
The Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh's daughter, now 20, was born prematurely on 8 November 2003 by an emergency C-section at Frimley Park Hospital in Surrey.
Buckingham Palace confirmed her full name to be Louise Alice Elizabeth Mary Mountbatten-Windsor when the then Earl and Countess of Wessex were able to take their baby girl home from hospital on 23 November 2003.
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Louise was a name said to be favoured by her mother, Sophie, and is also the name of Edward's paternal great-great-grandmother - Louise of Hesse-Kassel.
The royal was Queen of Denmark as the wife of King Christian IX from 1863 until her death in 1898.
Louise was the mother of George I of Greece and the grandmother of Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark – Prince Philip's father – making her a great-grandmother to the late Duke of Edinburgh.
According to The Bump, Louise is a name of French origin, meaning "renowned warrior".
Queen Victoria also had a daughter called Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll. Louise, who died aged 91 in 1939, was affectionately known as "Auntie Palace" to then Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret, as she was confined to Kensington Palace in her later years.
Lady Louise's middle names Alice and Elizabeth pay tribute to Prince Philip's mother, Princess Alice of Greece, and her grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II. Mary was also chosen in honour of Sophie's mother.
Many of the female royals share the same connection with Princess Anne, Zara Tindall, Princess Charlotte, Princess Beatrice and her daughter Sienna, all having the middle name Elizabeth after Queen Elizabeth II.
Lady Louise's future and title
The Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh's daughter is currently studying for an English degree at the University of St Andrews – where the Prince and Princess of Wales met.
She is not expected to become a full-time working royal in future, with Sophie saying of Lady Louise and her brother, James, Earl of Wessex, in an interview with The Sunday Times in 2020: "We try to bring them up with the understanding they are very likely to have to work for a living. Hence, we made the decision not to use HRH titles. They have them and can decide to use them from 18, but I think it's highly unlikely."
Lady Louise, who turns 21 in November, has not formally used her HRH title so far.
When Edward married Sophie in 1999, they became the Earl and Countess of Wessex, and Buckingham Palace said that their future children "would have courtesy titles as sons or daughters of an earl," according to the BBC at the time.
Courtesy titles are only used by the peer's eldest living son, and the eldest son's eldest living son, and so forth. Other descendants are not permitted to use the peer's subsidiary titles.
As Louise was born the daughter of an Earl, she has been styled as Lady since her birth.
Meanwhile, her brother, who was previously known as James, Viscount Severn, took over his father's previous title, Earl of Wessex, when Edward became the Duke of Edinburgh in March 2023.
