HRH Prince Louis Arthur Charles of Cambridge

We have a name!

As many of you may have already heard, today we learned Kate and William have chosen the name Louis Arthur Charles for their son.

His Royal Highness Prince Louis of Cambridge.

This was the longest it has taken the Duke and Duchess to reveal the name of one of their children.

Both George and Charlotte’s names were released two days after they were born.

The name is actually pronounced Loo-ee, like the American name Louie. More from People magazine:

Some Twitter users asked whether the tiny heir’s name takes the French pronunciation (Louie, or LU-ee) or the Americanized pronunciation (Lewis, or LU-iss). According to Kensington Palace, the correct way is the former, with the “s” being silent.

Reaction on Twitter was immediate, with royal followers, fans, media, historians and others weighing in on the name. From the military:  

For his part, Mr. Tomlinson played along:

We even had the requisite zoo baby naming.

• More from The Telegraph:

“It was Mountbatten who helped to successfully orchestrate the marriage between his nephew Prince Philip and Princess Elizabeth in 1947; and Mountbatten who advised his great-nephew Prince Charles on all things formal and informal. Both Philip and Charles were devastated when, in 1979, Mountbatten and his grandson Nicholas were murdered by the IRA, who had planted a bomb in their fishing boat in County Sligo.”

• This photo is from Lord Mountbatten’s funeral; you see HM, Prince Philip, the Queen Mother, Prince Andrew, Prince Charles, Princess Margaret, Princess Anne, Captain Mark Phillips and others outside Westminster Abbey September 5, 1979.

Other name notes:

• The middle name Arthur is also deeply significant.
  • Historian Sarah Gristwood is quoted in an article in The Express; “The middle name Arthur is one that goes right back to the very roots of British royal history and even the Tudors wanted to tag or connect themselves with Prince Arthur and the roundtable.”
  • It is another middle name for both Prince William and Prince Charles
  • It was a middle name for the Queen’s father King George VI, Albert Frederick Arthur George
• As a second son, if Louis had been born before 2012 his title would have been “Lord.” More from The Independent: “However, an official ruling made by the Queen on December 31 2012 meant that all of the royal couple’s children would be named princes and princesses.”
• Evidently Louis is a popular name, The Telegraph reporting “These days, of course, Louis is also a hip-Sloane name, familiar in prep school playgrounds across west London.”
• Louis was not at the top of most lists of expected names; from The Guardian: “Most pundits and bookmakers had made Arthur or Albert the firm favourite to be picked – with Louis an outside bet.”

Also today, an update on the newest addition to the family. When at an Anzac service on Wednesday William was asked (no surprise) how Kate and the baby were doing, to which he replied “They are very well, thanks.” More from the Telegraph:

The now father of three said they are “in good form, luckily”, and added: “Sleeping’s going reasonably well so far, so he’s behaving himself which is good news.”

Prince Louis is a very popular young man, having had a number of visitors. Aunt Pippa was one of the first, stopping by on Tuesday.

Princess Eugenie also visited Kensington Palace on Tuesday.

Louis’s grandmother, Carole Middleton and his Uncle James were at the Palace on Wednesday; Carole also did the school run Wednesday, bringing George home from school.

The Daily Mirror reports Kate’s mother stopped by again today.

I’m sorry this is tardy; I had a number of commitments today and also wanted to be sure I was accurate with the Lord Mountbatten information. We hope to see you early next week (if not sooner) with a new photo of Princess Charlotte commemorating her 3rd birthday. And it is possible we will have a new Cambridge family photo portrait before too long.  Until then, happy weekend to all!

NOTE: Some versions of the post may have the wrong name in the title, that is my bad, and total palm smack to forehead! (Hangs head in shame).

LINKAGE:

• The Telegraph’s full backgrounder on Lord Mountbatten is here; People’s story on pronunciation of the name is here
• Town and Country’s story on Lord Mountbatten is here; The Daily Mail piece on Lord Mountbatten may be seen here
• The Independent’s story on the name’s historical significance is here;