Don't Ignore Lady Louise, Your Majesty: Monarch Urged to 'Not Overlook' Edward and Sophie's Daughters' 'Future Contributions' to the Crown
King Charles III's decision to initiate a "slimmed-down monarchy" backfired on the sovereign when both he and Kate, Princess of Wales, were stricken with cancer earlier this year. This led a PR expert to suggest His Majesty "not overlook Lady Louise Windsor's future contributions" to his Crown among a shortage of taxpayer-backed, frontline working royals.
"Princess Beatrice and Eugenie are involved in multiple charitable causes, portraying a commitment to public service," said Nikki Jain, the founder and CEO of The Sprout PR, to GBN. "Zara Tindall’s experience in equestrianism can be used for events and patronages."
I think Lady Louise would — from people I speak to in the Palace — I think [she] is quite willing to do that," royal expert Kate Mansey dished in October 2023. "I remember going to some Guildhall event, and she was with her father, and very competently circulating, talking to dignitaries and foreign royals... She is at university at the moment; there’s plenty of time for them to do that," she added.
Louise and her younger brother, James, Earl of Wessex, were eligible to be styled as Prince and Princess had their father not asked Queen Elizabeth II to make him an earl instead of a royal duke at his 1999 wedding to Sophie. Instead, the children were appropriately titled and styled as the daughter and son of an earl, which did not change when Edward was created "Duke of Edinburgh" by King Charles III earlier this year.
However, the then-Countess of Wessex revealed in a 2020 interview that her children technically could use their royal styles one day if they wanted. "We try to bring them up with the understanding that they are very likely to have to work for a living," Her Royal Highness claimed. "Hence, we made the decision not to use HRH titles. They have them and can decide to use them from 18, but it’s highly unlikely."
Lady Louise has lived her life largely away from the world's cameras and currently attends Prince William and Kate, Princess of Wales' alma mater, the University of St Andrews in Scotland, where she studies English.
"I would hope that she can go on with her studies, which I think she probably will want to do, and I hope that she and her friends will protect her from anything that somebody might want to do," Sophie told an outlet. "But I have to let her live her life. It's not mine to live. I can only equip her with the best that I can, and then she has to make her own choices. But I hope for the next few years, at least, she will still be able to be as private as she wants to be."