Names fit for a prince - Louis

We know him as George but, of course, when the Archbishop of Canterbury christens baby Cambridge on October 23rd he will bestow three names on him at the font.  And while George has a royal pedigree stretching back, intermittently, to the 15th century, the future king's other names have had a limited role in the UK's monarchical monikers.  Putting the last first, Louis has been associated with kings of France for almost a thousand years which is perhaps why it's appearance on the names of British monarchs has been mostly limited to the 20th century.

George Alexander Louis of Cambridge leaves hospital in London on July 23rd 2013

 

That said, the vey first king of England to be called George had just one middle name and that was Louis.  George Louis of Hanover received his first name in honour of his paternal grandfather and his second name as a nod to his dad's mum's dad.  He started off as Georg Ludwig but on inheriting a whole kingdom, on top of the electorate he had grown up expecting to get, he found his name changed to suit his new subjects and we got our first royal Louis.

 

 

King George  of Great Britain - seen here in a portrait by Sir Godfrey Kneller - began life as

Georg Ludwig of Hanover

 

George I passed on his George but not his Louis to his only legitimate son.  And that George decided to bring Louis back into the royal fold by naming his eldest son Frederick Louis.  Well, Friedrich Ludwig was what was said at the font in 1707 but when his grandfather took the throne of Great Britain seven years later, this little boy born to be king was turned into a Frederick Louis.  Except poor old Fred died before he could become king.  His son, George Frederick William, became King George III and Louis disappeared from royal names.

 

 

Frederick Louis, Prince of Wales, died in 1751.  Nine years later his eldest son became George III

 

None of George III's nine sons had Louis anywhere in their list of names and Queen Victoria didn't use it for any of her four sons and the name only came back into royal use in the mid 20th century.  In 1964, Elizabeth II used it as the last name of her last child.  The Earl of Wessex's full name is Edward Antony Richard Louis.  But it was Prince Charles and Diana, Princess of Wales who brought it back into the naming culture of future monarchs.  Their eldest son's full name is William Arthur Philip Louis making him the first future king to be given the name for 270 years.

 

 

William Arthur Philip Louis of Wales

 

And like his father before him, William has chosen to use the name Louis for his son which means George is just the fourth boy born to be king of England to carry the name.  But while it's a handy Hanoverian link, the reason the Windsors have Louis as a label is to honour Lord Mountbatten, the beloved uncle of Prince Philip who had a massive influence on the Duke of Edinburgh and the Prince of Wales before he was killed in an IRA attack in 1979. 

 

 

Louis Mountbatten, last viceroy of India, has been remembered in the names given to two future kings of England

 

The name, which started off as Ludovicus, was first made royal by King Louis I, son of Charlemagne who was born in 778.  Thirteen hundred years later it is still being used for little boys born to be king.