Prince Louis Caps Off Coronation Weekend By Taking Part in His First-Ever Royal Engagement

(Image credit: Getty)

published 8 May 2023

Prince Louis is continuing a year of royal firsts—his first royal Christmas! His first royal Easter! And now, his first official royal engagement, volunteering with his parents, the Prince and Princess of Wales, and his older siblings Prince George and Princess Charlotte at the Big Help Out, capping off a Coronation weekend filled with activity (and more Louis memes).

The family of five volunteered at the 3rd Upton Scout Group in Slough—“a special choice, as Princess Kate is joint President of the Scout Association,” People reports. The occasion marked the first time five-year-old Louis has ever joined his parents on royal duty, and the Wales family joined the Scouts as they renovated their Scout Hut, taking part in plating, sanding, and painting. Louis shoveled dirt into a wheelbarrow and moved it, Charlotte painted, and George used a drill for a project. William climbed into the control seat of a large digger, and each of his three kids took turns joining him.

In addition to getting down to business, the family took turns shooting a bow and arrow and dipped their hands into paint and contributed their handprints to a wall. They also gathered around a fire to toast and eat marshmallows together. Matt Hyde, CEO of Scouts and cofounder of the Big Help Out, tells People that “Louis led the way,” and Anne Edwards, an adult Scout helper, tells the outlet that “Louis was very enthusiastic and did a good job.”

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We also learned Kate’s adorable nickname for her youngest, People reports: While roasting marshmallows, Kate told him to “pop that in the fire, Lou Bug.” (Awww!) The Mirror also caught Louis possibly revealing his future career aspirations—a fellow volunteer asked Louis after he helped paint “You might want to be a painter when you grow up?” “No,” Louis responded. “A fighter pilot”—just like William once was.

The Big Help Out is a volunteering initiative uniting thousands of organizations to create community change. U.K. citizens were encouraged to use today’s bank holiday in honor of the Coronation this weekend to get involved with the initiative on their day off. It rounded out three days of Coronation events, including the ceremony itself and Buckingham Palace balcony appearance on Saturday and the Coronation Big Lunch and Coronation Concert Sunday. No doubt the entire Wales family of five is exhausted, but perhaps none more so than Charlotte, who William revealed, per People, is “very tired” after “making sure her little brother behaved himself” at the Coronation.

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Rachel Burchfield is a writer, editor, and podcaster whose primary interests are fashion and beauty, society and culture, and, most especially, the British Royal Family and other royal families around the world. She serves as Marie Claire’s Senior Celebrity and Royals Editor and has also contributed to publications like Allure, Cosmopolitan, Elle, Glamour, Harper’s Bazaar, InStyle, People, Vanity Fair, Vogue, and W, among others. Before taking on her current role with Marie Claire, Rachel served as its Weekend Editor and later Royals Editor. She is the cohost of Podcast Royal, a show that was named a top five royal podcast by The New York Times. A voracious reader and lover of books, Rachel also hosts I’d Rather Be Reading, which spotlights the best current nonfiction books hitting the market and interviews the authors of them. Rachel frequently appears as a media commentator, and she or her work has appeared on outlets like NBC’s Today Show, ABC’s Good Morning America, CNN, and more.