It appears that Prince Louis was given a hand-me-down shirt from his older brother Prince George in a new birthday tribute for the late Queen Elizabeth II.
To mark what would be the Queen’s 97th birthday, the royal family shared an unseen photograph of the late British monarch surrounded by her grandchildren and great-grandchildren. In the photo, which was taken by the Princess of Wales during a family trip to Balmoral, Aberdeenshire last summer, the Queen is seen sitting on a couch joined by Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and of course, Prince Louis.
The four-year-old royal was seen standing off to the side of his great-grandmother and next to his cousin, Isla Phillips. Apart from the grin on his face, Prince Louis also wore a button-down shirt with blue and white stripes and mandarin-collar shirt. In fact, the striped shirt appeared to be identical to the one worn by Prince George when he was the same age as his younger brother.
In 2017, Kensington Palace released a portrait of Prince George in honour of his fourth birthday. The photograph, captured by royal photographer Chris Jackson, showed the Prince and Princess of Wales’ eldest child beaming in the blue and white striped shirt.
The long sleeve shirt – called the “Pereprine Shirt Seersucker Blue” – is from the Franco-Spanish boutique Amaia Kids, a favourite brand amongst the royal family. The shirt currently retails on their website for $74.25 (£58).
Prince George had also worn the striped blue shirt for the then-Cambridges’ Christmas card in 2017, before Louis was born. The slightly formal photograph was taken in a studio and showed George and Charlotte standing in front of their parents.
This isn’t the first time Prince Louis has been passed down clothes from his nine-year-old brother, Prince George. In December 2020, Louis made his red carpet debut at the London Palladium by wearing a Redwink blue jacket from Amaia (£115) that his brother had previously worn three years earlier at Queen Elizabeth’s annual Christmas lunch at Buckingham Palace.
That same year, Louis re-wore a merino wool jumper from the brand Wild and Gorgeous while meeting Sir David Attenborough with his siblings. Prince George wore the sweater in 2016, during the Cambridges’ tour of Canada two years before the youngest royal was born.
Prince Louis was even seen wearing his father’s mini sailor suit at Trooping the Colour last June, more than 30 years after Prince William wore it to the same event in 1985 when he was just two years old. In 2019, Louis made his debut on the Buckingham Palace balcony wearing a blue-and-white shirt and matching shorts set borrowed from his uncle, Prince Harry.
The previously unseen photograph featured the late Queen Elizabeth II with the young royals, who were all smiles as they sat next to their beloved “Gan Gan”. In addition to the George, Charlotte, and Louis, Mia, Lucas and Lena Tindall were seen in the image, along with Savannah and Isla Phillips.
Standing at the back were the Queen’s grandchildren Lady Louise Mountbatten-Windsor and James, Earl of Wessex – the son and daughter of the now-Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh.
However, missing from the photograph were the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s two children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet. Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan Markle, stepped down as senior working royals in 2020 and have since relocated their family to the United States. The duke will make his return to the United Kingdom for the coronation of his father, King Charles II, on Saturday 6 May. However, Meghan will stay at home in California with their two children, as the coronation is also the same day as Archie’s fourth birthday.
“Buckingham Palace is pleased to confirm that the Duke of Sussex will attend the Coronation Service at Westminster Abbey on 6 May,” the Palace said in a statement earlier this month. “The Duchess of Sussex will remain in California with Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet.”
The duke’s confirmation at the King’s coronation comes after months of speculation over whether he would attend the ceremony. It was previously reported that Harry was seeking an “apology” from his father, Charles, and his brother, the Prince of Wales, before he made any commitment to the ceremony. Ahead of the publication of his tell-all memoir, Harry said in an interview that the “door is always open” for reconciliation.
