In years past, Prince Louis has stolen the show during rare appearances on the Buckingham Palace balcony. In 2023, the young prince delighted in impersonating the RAF flypast, earning him a serious talk from his parents
With Trooping the Colour right around the corner, royal fans around the world are eager to catch a glimpse of Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis in what is one of their few royal appearances each year. Despite the celebrations being for the King’s birthday, the children have often stolen the show in the past years, with Prince Louis becoming a fan favourite for his cheeky demeanour and animated expressions.
In 2023, Prince Louis’ antics won him a stern pep talk from both his parents, as the unimpressed young royal waited – relatively impatiently – for the RAF flypast to begin.
While standing on the Buckingham Palace balcony with his siblings, a bored looking Prince Louis, who was five years old at the time, looked bored and disappointed with the Trooping celebrations, but his mood quickly changed once the Red Arrows began their performance.
According to a lip reader, a video shows Prince William saying to Louis: “They work in twos.” Louis’ body language is unimpressed as he responds with a let-down “Oh”, before Kate, in an attempt to reason with her young son, said: “Hey, it’s alright, listen,” while William explained that the aircraft “may need to manoeuvre”.
Louis’ frown quickly changed and his mood picked up, as he started imitating the planes and delighted the crowd with a salute of his own. According to body language expert Judi James, Louis was excited for the Red Arrows, impatiently punching his fists together as he waited for them to arrive.
It wasn’t the only time that Louis stole the show while on the Palace balcony, as the 2022 Trooping the Colour saw the youngster win the hearts of the nation as he pulled faces and looked wildly excited for the flypast.
Standing next to the late Queen at what would be her final Trooping, Louis then aged four, was seen exchanging words with his late great-grandmother as they awaited the planes and helicopters to fly overhead.
A lipreader told the Mirror what the pair appeared to be talking about, with Louis eager to know one thing. According to Jeremy Freeman, an expert in lipreading, Louis asked, “Are the Red Arrows coming?” To which the Queen very dryly replied, “I hope so.”
When the Red Arrows did show up and painted the sky red, white, and blue, Louis’ excitement seemed to peak. Mr Freeman said the youngster exclaimed: “Yes, yes, yes.” He also added that the Queen then said: “There it is,” before Louis added: “Oh, Red Arrows—whoah.”
Mr Freeman also picked up on another exchange between the royals when young Louis was seen covering his ears as planes roared over Buckingham Palace in the shape of the number 70 – the number of years in the Queen’s reign. He says that on seeing this, the Queen said: “Ohh fun” with Kate saying “amazing” and Charlotte adding “Wow”.
As Louis covered his ears, Mr Freeman says he said: “Whoah – that was loud”, while a proud Kate said to Prince William “look at him” – about their young son.
Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis are once again expected to appear on the Buckingham Palace balcony during the King’s birthday celebrations on Saturday, with eager royal eyes no doubt waiting for what cheeky antics Louis will pull next.
