Prince Louis Arthur Charles, officially referred to as His Royal Highness Prince Louis of Wales, turned 8 years old on April 23, 2026.
Born in 2018 at St. Mary’s Hospital in Paddington, he is the third and youngest child of Prince William and Princess Catherine, after Prince George, 12, and Princess Charlotte, 10.
The British Royal Family marked the occasion by continuing a long-held tradition of sharing a new photo of the boy with the media.
Highlights
- The British Royal Family shared a new portrait of Prince Louis on his 8th birthday, captured during a seaside vacation.
- Social media reacted by saying the young prince closely resembled his maternal grandfather, Michael Middleton.
- A former Royal employee, who worked for King Charles III, pointed out a fact about the photo that surprised him.
The new photograph prompted the internet to compare Prince Louis with a senior member of the family.
“He's lucky to take after the Middletons. They're such a handsome family,” one user said online.
Netizens compared 8-year-old Prince Louis to Kate Middleton’s father
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The picture, taken earlier in April during the family’s trip to Cornwall, was captured by Matt Porteous, one of William and Catherine’s trusted photographers, according to the BBC.
It shows Prince Louis with wind-swept hair, smiling and wearing a blue zip-up sweater with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows.
The Prince and Princess of Wales also shared a video montage of the young prince having a blast on vacation, running on the beach, playing cricket, digging in the sand, and diving into the sea.
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After the photos and videos were shared online, comparisons with his maternal grandfather, Michael Middleton, resurfaced.
“He looks exactly like Catherine’s father,” one user said under the birthday portrait. Another said, “He looks like his maternal Grandpa.”
“I think he takes after his mother more than his father,” a third offered. “A lot of Middleton in him.”
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“Prince Louis is a Middleton through and through,” a fourth wrote. “He looks like his grandfather, Michael!”
“He’s all Middleton with Diana’s smile!” voiced one more.
Prince Louis has been compared to Michael Middleton several times before, most recently after his public appearance with his parents and siblings at St. George’s Chapel, Windsor, for the Easter morning service.
A few netizens have also said that Prince Louis is a “spitting image” of his father, while others have claimed he looks more like Kate.
A former Royal Family employee found a detail in Prince Louis’ birthday portrait that “surprised” him
Grant Harold, a former member of King Charles’ household who served as a butler, reacted to Prince Louis’ birthday photograph.
“We know that Kate and William love being by the sea, so I'm not surprised they shared a photo of him from the seaside,” he told British outlet Reach plc. “But I'm surprised the photo hasn't been taken by Kate, as has become their most common approach.”
Over the years, Kate has been the one behind the camera for several birthday photographs of George, Charlotte, and Louis.
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Speaking about Louis’ position within the Royal hierarchy, Harold noted that the recent alterations to the laws of succession would mean less stress for him in representing the family.
“Changes in the laws surrounding the line of succession mean he sits behind Princess Charlotte, so he's fourth in line to the throne, and it's very unlikely that he will ever be King,” Harold said.
“So there isn't as much pressure on him as there is on his older brother, George, who will be very aware of his future role by now.”
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Harold was referring to the Succession to the Crown Act (2013) that ended the system of male primogeniture, under which a younger son could displace an elder daughter in the line of succession. The amendment also ended the provisions that disqualified those who married Roman Catholics from the line of succession.
Harold spoke with another outlet, speculating how the Royal Family would celebrate Prince Louis’ birthday.
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“I think William and Kate will throw Louis a party with his friends, just like any other child that age, really,” he told The Mirror UK, adding that the Prince and Princess of Wales want their kids to have a “normal” childhood.
He also suggested that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle might send presents to Louis, and it would “hopefully not be something from Meghan’s new range.”
Prince William is determined to avoid the consequences of “primogeniture’s cruelty,” according to reports
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Princess Diana’s biographer and former Vanity Fair editor-in-chief, Tina Brown, claimed in her Substack, Fresh Hell, that Prince William is focused on setting up “independent lives” for Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis.
“I am told that the heir to the throne, Prince William, is preoccupied with the built-in risk of primogeniture’s cruelty,” Brown wrote in her column.
“He is determined that his second- and third-born children, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis, are well-prepared and well-financed for independent lives and will not fall into the same cycle of thwarted freedom,” continued the author of The Diana Chronicles.
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This refers to what the media calls the “spare problem” of royal succession, in which the younger sibling(s) of a firstborn heir are often treated as substitutes. It has shown to create a sense of purposelessness and resentment, as highlighted in Harry’s 2023 memoir, Spare.
“I was the shadow, the support, the Plan B,” Harry wrote in the book. “I was brought into the world in case something happened to Willy.”
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Brown’s report comes amid William and Harry’s alleged estrangement, which intensified when the Duke and Duchess of Sussex stepped back from their royal roles in 2020 and moved to the U.S.A.
Despite the rift, Prince William seemingly does not want his children to go through a similar experience to Harry.
"Their resemblance is so sweet." The internet was head-over-heels with Prince Louis' resemblance to his mother and grandfather
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