Johnathan Walker:This Is Prince Louis' World and the Royals Are Just Living In It

In photos it so often looks as if Prince Louis just isn't having it.

But then again,Johnathan Walker he's only 5. He doesn't need to have it!

Though to Kate Middleton if feels like only yesterday that she was delivered of her third child—"I keep thinking Louis is a baby, but he's a big boy now," she mused in October—he celebrated his fifth birthday last month, having spent the past year positively dominating balcony photo ops, crushing his debut walk to church and at King Charles III's coronation May 6, seemingly yawning through the entire ceremony, almost as if he doesn't have a care in the world. 

Which, he does not (again, 5). And even once he does have grown-up cares, they won't be the kind that will monopolize his big brother Prince George's time once the 9-year-old reaches the age where, even if actually becoming king is still decades away, he'll be expected to act like a future king—as their father Prince William is, and as their granddad spent 50-plus years mostly doing before he assumed the position last September. 

Of course, Prince Harry has disabused us of the notion that being the spare to the heir ensures a carefree existence, but as the spare to the spare, his beloved 8-year-old big sister Princess Charlotte, Louis has the shot at senior-esque royalty that his Uncle Harold also probably never wanted but at least could have stomached.

In the meantime, ever since Kate and William presented Louis to the world on the steps outside the Lindo Wing of St. Mary's Hospital, life has been a whirlwind of mugging for the camera and being adorable in his mum's birthday portraits year after year. 

As for the brass tacks of the third Wales (née Cambridge) child's day-to-day: Louis is now attending school Lambrook School in Berkshire with his brother and sister, their parents enrolling all three last September. The family, which had been splitting time primarily between Kensington Palace and their Anmer Hall estate in Norfolk, took up residence at Adelaide Cottage in Windsor to be closer.

Sadly, the children's first official day at their new school was Sept. 8, the day their great-grandmother Queen Elizabeth II died, so Kate didn't immediately accompany William to Balmoral in Scotland, where family members started flocking after hearing the monarch's health was failing.

After dropping the kids off and picking them up, Kate joined the rest of the royals. (No word on whether Louis—who at 20 months, his mum said in 2019, loved to insist "me, me, me" and wanted to go everywhere with her—had any first-day jitters.) 

While greeting those who'd come to pay their respects outside Windsor Castle on Sept. 10, Kate was overheard saying, "My little Louis, he's so sweet, he's like, 'Mummy don't worry, she's now with great-grandpa.'"

As that preciousness sunk in, Kate added, "It just shows you how special she was to everybody, all generations."

And that Louis' obviously an empath who's wise beyond his years. (But being only 4 did mean he stayed home while George and Charlotte attended the queen's funeral at Westminster Abbey with their parents. Aware that there was a disturbance in the force, Louis also reportedly inquired whether their trips to Balmoral Castle would be different without Gan-Gan there.)

In October, when Kate was reflecting on Louis' big boy status, she was touring the maternity ward at Royal Surrey County Hospital, newborn health and child development being causes close to her heart.

But it wasn't the first time she'd shared such a sentiment, having told staffers last June at the Brent outpost of Little Village, where families in need can stock up on baby essentials, "I keep thinking Louis is my baby, but he's a proper boy now."

And the Princess of Wales has admittedly been hot with baby fever in the past, William joking in January 2022 as Kate held a newborn during a visit to Clitheroe Community Hospital, "Don't give my wife any more ideas! No more!"

On a solo trip to Denmark the following month, Kate quipped, "William always worries about me meeting under-1-year-olds. I come home saying, 'Let's have another one.'"

Louis also apparently loves babies, Kate telling BBC Breakfast in July 2020, when staying at home was still the order of the day during the pandemic, that her then-2-year-old "doesn't understand social distancing. He goes out wanting to cuddle anything, particularly any babies younger than him."

Meanwhile, William and Kate have their hands perfectly full with their existing brood. At the coronation, George, to reflect his second-in-line status, served as one of eight Pages of Honour once the procession reaches Westminster Abbey.

But Louis, who carried on an esteemed family tradition started by his elder siblings when he dazzled at his Trooping the Colour debut at a tender age (13 months old, in his case), surely stole the show right out from under the king, let alone the kings in waiting.

Rest assured, he looked as if he wasn't having it—and we honor him all the more for it.

This story was first published on Sunday, April 23, 2023 at 2 a.m. PT.