Every young royal should experience real life like Lady Louise

EnCOUnTERInG the smiling teenager working the tills or up to her elbows in compost potting plants, customers would have had no idea she was 16th in line to the throne.

Yet the girl at the garden centre was none other than Lady Louise Windsor, the unassuming daughter of Prince Edward and the Countess of Wessex.

Since finishing her A-levels in June, she has been working there for the teenage minimum wage of £6.83 an hour, not just getting her hands dirty, but learning what it’s like to be in the real world, with real people, earning her own money.

How refreshing to see a royal mixing with us ordinary folk. As one person she served said: ‘It’s not every day you buy your begonias off a royal.’

Yes, Louise’s work experience may be temporary, but what a breath of fresh air that she’s not behaving like a pampered princess — did I mention Beatrice and Eugenie? — and is instead doing what any sensible teenager should in her summer holidays.

She’s been encouraged to take the summer job, no doubt, by her downtoearth parents. Ever since Harry and Megs stomped off, Edward and Sophie have taken on more duties and risen up the royal ladder.

Yet they don’t seek headlines or court controversy. They perform their royal work quietly and without fuss, just as Princess Anne has done for her entire life.

It’s not always been the case, of course. Edward was pilloried for his disastrous It’s A knockout in the 1980s, while Sophie had to resign from her PR firm in 2001 after she made rude comments about royals and politicians to an undercover reporter.

Yet they redeemed themselves through hard graft and a sense of duty. And now they’re teaching their daughter to do what so many parents wish their teenagers would do: get off their lazy behinds (and smartphones) and get a job.

It’s what we all did in my generation. Aged 15 in Western Australia, I worked weekends and holidays at the local supermarket and was promoted to the checkout, one month winning the ‘fastest checkout chick in the west’ award.

I’d make all young royals spend time working in the real world. What an invaluable experience it would be for them to learn about mucking in.

Louise gives us hope after years of workshy royals.