William and Kate choose baby’s name
Royal couple settles on ‘Louis Arthur Charles’ for newborn prince
LONDON— The new prince has a name — in fact three. The son of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge has been named Louis Arthur Charles, Kensington Palace announced Friday. The palace said the baby’s full title is His Royal Highness Prince Louis of Cambridge.
William and Kate’s third child was born Monday, a brother to 4-year-old Prince George and Princess Charlotte, who is almost 3.
Louis is fifth in line to the throne after his grandfather Prince Charles, his father and his older siblings.
Louis is William’s fourth name and was apparently chosen by his father, Charles, as a tribute to Lord Louis Mountbatten, a mentor of Charles’, a prominent British naval officer during the Second World War and the Duke of Edinburgh’s uncle. Mountbatten was the last Viceroy of India, the head of the British colonial administration in India and was killed by an Irish Republican Army bomb in 1979.
Charles was most likely chosen in honour of William’s father. Both William and Charles have Arthur in their names.
Experts said the name Arthur was most likely chosen to pay homage to the legend of King Arthur and the Knights of the Roundtable, a legendary fictional figure admired by British royals.
“What’s wonderful about Arthur is it conjures up a kingship that never existed — Camelot was an egalitarian paradise — and, of course, there was the quest for the Holy Grail,” royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliams told the BBC. “It’s one of the great royal legends.”
Louis’ older brother, Prince George Alexander Louis, 4, was named after six King Georges in the British royal family, including Queen Elizabeth II’s father, King George VI.
Bookmakers had been doing a brisk trade in bets on the new prince’s name, but Louis wasn’t among the favourites. The royal couple has used it before, as one of George’s middle names.
Arthur, Albert and James had been considered front-runners.
Twitter users with personal connections to the fresh prince’s names offered peals of joy.
Author JK Rowling’s digital publishing company, Pottermore, noted that the Weasley family in the Harry Potter books had members named Louis, Arthur and Charles.