Prince Louis Has Yet to Reach This Major Royal Milestone—Even Though Prince George and Princess Charlotte Already Had by His Age

Prince Louis at Trooping the Colour in 2023

(Image credit: Getty)

published 19 July 2023

This past year has seen Prince Louis take part in a ton of royal firsts: His first Sandringham Christmas! His first Easter service! His first Trooping the Colour! His first royal engagement! Now that he is five, the door has opened for Prince William and Princess Kate’s youngest to take part in more and more royal events (though not Wimbledon this past weekend, much to his chagrin)—but there’s still one royal milestone that eludes him, despite his older siblings Prince George and Princess Charlotte already hitting this milestone long before they were five, The Mirror reports.

Kate Middleton and Prince George on tour in Australia in 2014

What has little Louis not yet done? He has not yet gone on a royal tour with his parents, though George went on his first one when he was just eight months old (to Australia and New Zealand), and Charlotte when she was 16 months old (in her case, to Canada). Both George and Charlotte joined their parents on a visit to Germany and Poland in 2017, the year before Louis was born. (This was the last time any of William and Kate’s kids joined them on tour.) Comparatively, Louis is five, and no royal tours yet—so why? The pandemic, for starters, and school term schedules, The Mirror reports.

Prince William, Kate Middleton, Prince George, and Princess Charlotte on tour in Canada in 2016

In 2019, William and Kate visited Pakistan on a five-day tour, which none of the children joined them for; at the time, Kensington Palace said the tour was the pair’s “most complex tour” to date. Then came 2020 and COVID-19; William and Kate didn’t take part in an international tour until 2022, when they visited the Caribbean for 10 days (and didn’t bring any of the kids then, either, because it was during school). Same situation for William and Kate’s trip to the U.S. in late 2022—the kids were in school.

Prince William, Kate Middleton, Prince George, and Princess Charlotte on tour in Germany and Poland in 2017

This will happen again when his mom and dad visit Singapore in November of this year for the third year of William’s Earthshot Prize Awards—Louis will be forced to miss out again because he will be in school.

Kensington Palace hasn’t announced any other royal tours in 2023 for William and Kate—so it remains to be seen if this year is the year that Louis can finally check this milestone off of his list.

Any predictions where Louis’ first royal tour will be, and when?

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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.

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