Prince William and Kate might have kept the world waiting for four days before announcing the name of their newborn baby son, Louis Arthur Charles. But it has now been revealed that the little boy could have also been left without a royal title. It's only thanks to his great-grandmother, the Queen, that the week-old royal will be known as HRH Prince Louis of Cambridge. The Queen stepped in to overturn a rule which meant that only the monarch, their children, grandchildren and the first grandson of the Prince of Wales got royal titles. Under the 1917 rule, Prince George would have received a title, but his younger siblings would have instead been called Lady Charlotte Mountbatten-Windsor and Lord Louis Mountbatten-Windsor.
© Photo: Getty ImagesPrince Louis would have been known as Lord Louis Mountbatten-Windsor
It would also have meant that had Charlotte been born first, she still would not have been able to be a Princess. To prevent this, prior to Prince George's birth, the Queen sought a legal notice that allowed all her great-grandchild to have a royal title, without the need for approval from parliament.
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William and Kate welcomed Prince Louis at 11:01am on 23 April at the Lindo Wing, St Mary's Hospital. Royal watchers are now speculating as to whether the baby boy will make an appearance with his parents at Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's wedding on 19 May. HELLO!'s royal correspondent Emily Nash commented: "William and Kate will both be busy on the wedding day, as he carries out his best man duties and she oversees George and Charlotte's involvement in the ceremony.
"I would expect nanny Maria Borrallo or Carole Middleton to be on hand to look after Prince Louis while they are in St George's Chapel. But as he will be less than a month old, I'm sure Kate will want him nearby, even if we don't see him at the service."
STORY: Watch Kate pronounce the name of her baby, Prince Louis
