Prince Louis might only be seven but according to reports, he’s just received his first offer to take on a patronage. His parents and the rest of the working members of the Royal Family – as well as some non-working royals – have multiple patronages they support and are typically connected to causes or areas close to their hearts.
It’s likely given how high up Louis is in the royal line of succession that he will be a royal patron himself one day. However, his time hasn’t come quite yet as Prince William and Kate are said to have politely declined a request for Prince Louis to become an honorary patron of the World Conker Championships.
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“Like the many other organisations for which members of the Royal Family are patrons, we have charitable aims and have raised [hundreds of thousands of pounds] to help people living with sight loss,” said WCC spokesman St John Burkett. “We were so heartened to hear that Prince Louis is such a conkers fan and he would be the perfect honorary patron for our organisation. We would be delighted were his parents to accept our offer.”
Sadly, this apparently didn’t happen, but the publication has claimed that a Palace spokesperson had a brilliant reply nevertheless.
“We really appreciate the invitation but currently Prince Louis is ‘conker-trating’ on his studies,” they stated.
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This is not only a kind and memorable way to turn down an honorary patronage, but also makes total sense. Louis is, after all, only seven and Prince William and Kate are keen for their children to grow up with as much privacy and normalcy as possible.
Taking on an official role at this young age doesn’t quite fit with that, although it’s possible that he could become Patron in the future if the World Conker Championships ask again. In the meantime, Prince Louis still has several weeks of peak conker season to enjoy.
The recent offer came after the Princess of Wales divulged that her youngest son had been making a bit of a mess with his hobby at home at Adelaide Cottage.
“We keep finding conkers in cupboards, in his bed – conkers everywhere!” Kate reportedly told Chief Scout Dwayne Fields during an engagement alongside US First Lady Melania Trump.
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She added that Louis has even taken to putting the conkers in his toy trucks and playing with them too, as per Hello! magazine. Conkers have mostly all fallen by October so the seven-year-old doesn’t have much time to add to what sounds like an already impressive collection.
We know he’ll also have to be fitting collecting around “conker-trating” on school work too. Lambrook School’s October half-term is drawing closer and it’s been suggested that the Wales family could be moving into their new house by early November.
If the rumours that their “forever home” is Forest Lodge are correct, then they’ll have even more outdoor space for Louis to search for conkers in the autumns to come.