Prince Louis Recreates Iconic Facial Expression, is the “Gift That Keeps on Giving”

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(Image credit: Getty)

published 15 July 2023

Summer break has started for the Wales trio—Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis—and to kick their break off, the Prince and Princess of Wales took their kids on a very poignant family outing. The family of five attended the Royal International Air Tattoo yesterday, where they toured the C-17 Globemaster III that flew Queen Elizabeth’s body back to London following her death last September. And, per People, as a large aircraft was heard in a video of their tour, Louis looked taken aback and yelled while covering his ears—a move made famous by the young prince while marking Her late Majesty’s Platinum Jubilee in June 2022. (If you’ll remember, the initial iconic gesture was made as planes flew overhead in a flypast celebrating the occasion; Louis and his family stood on the Buckingham Palace balcony, taking it all in.)

Queen Elizabeth and Prince Louis at the Platinum Jubilee

At the Air Tattoo yesterday, Louis sat on an ATV, showed off his royal handshake, and joined his family for a group photo, donning a rain jacket amid the day’s dreary weather. “The family were all looking forward to the trip,” a royal source tells People. The Air Tattoo, per The Independent, is the world’s largest military air show. While at the event, the kids toured jets, helicopters, and historical planes at the event at Gloucestershire’s RAF Fairford.

Fans commented on Louis’ behavior at the event, calling the five-year-old the “gift that keeps on giving”; another fan praised him for his “adorable” facial expressions while another wrote “He always steals the show.”

Louis and older brother George wore rain jackets for the gloomy weather, which the Prince and Princess of Wales jokingly addressed on Instagram, calling out the “wonderful British summer weather” (sarcasm detected). The annual event draws about 200,000, People reports, and while this was Charlotte and Louis’ debut appearance, George attended with his parents back in 2016, when he was nearly three years old.

“I imagine his father has told him about helicopters, so he knew what that was called and kept saying ‘tail rotor,’” Flight Lieutenant Jim Hobkirk told People at the time. “It was good to see his technical knowledge. Some training going on early!”

George, Charlotte, and Louis are now on summer break, recently completing their first year at Lambrook School, where the three started together back in September, the same day as the late Queen’s death. The Wales family moved in early September from Kensington Palace in London to Adelaide Cottage in Windsor, so this will be their first summer at their new home. The surprise Air Tattoo visit yesterday was “a meaningful field trip,” People reports.

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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.