At only 7 years old, Prince Louis\u2014the youngest child of Prince William and Kate Middleton\u2014has been offered his first patronage.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
After the Princess of Wales shared that Louis was obsessed with collecting conkers during a September royal engagement, the World Conkers Championship reached out to offer Louis a role as its honorary patron.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
Kensington Palace\u2019s response was cheeky and fantastic\u2014\u201cWe really appreciate the invite, but currently Prince Louis is \u2018conker-trating\u2019 on his studies,\u201d they responded.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Prince Louis<\/a>, at just 7 years old, was just given his first opportunity to have a patronage\u2014but his parents Prince William<\/a> and Kate Middleton<\/a> turned down the request in a hilarious way.<\/p>\n If you\u2019ll remember, last month the Princess of Wales shared during a joint engagement with U.S. First Lady Melania Trump that her youngest child had recently become obsessed with collecting conkers\u2014the round, brown, shiny seed of a horse chestnut tree that is found in a distinctive spiky, green case. \u201cWe keep finding conkers in cupboards, in his bed\u2014conkers everywhere!\u201d Kate said, adding that Louis even puts conkers in his toy trucks and plays with them.<\/p>\n Getty<\/p>\n Kate Middleton and Prince Louis on May 8, 2023<\/p>\n After Louis\u2019s love of conkers became public knowledge a few weeks ago, the World Conker Championships\u2014yes, this is a thing\u2014wrote to the Prince and Princess of Wales and offered Louis his first official role as their honorary patron, The Telegraph<\/a> reported. Even better than that is William and Kate\u2019s cheeky response to the offer. Citing the fact that Louis is, you know, 7 years old and not yet a working member of the royal family, a Kensington Palace spokesperson said, \u201cWe really appreciate the invite, but currently Prince Louis is \u2018conker-trating\u2019 on his studies.\u201d (We really want to know who came up with the \u201cconker-trating\u201d phrase, because, genius.)<\/p>\n Getty<\/p>\n Prince Louis at Trooping the Colour on June 15, 2024<\/p>\n Like his older siblings Prince George<\/a> and Princess Charlotte<\/a>, Louis is in school at Lambrook. For its part, the World Conker Championships raises money for a great cause, generating over $563,000 (\u00a3420,000) for charities that support the visually impaired, work it has been doing since 1965. The competition, according to Hello!<\/a>, takes place on the second Sunday in October annually, and participants battle for the titles of Conker King and Queen.<\/p>\n \u201cLike the many other organizations 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,\u201d John Burkett, spokesman for the World Conker Championships, told The Telegraph. \u201cWe were so heartened to hear that Prince Louis is such a conkers fan, and he would be the perfect honorary patron for our organization.\u201d<\/p>\n Max Mumby\/Getty Images<\/p>\n Prince Louis<\/p>\n \u201cThe Princess of Wales herself is such a wonderful champion of childhood and nature, and playing conkers connects both children and adults to nature,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n As evidenced by Louis\u2019s collection of them, conkers are in large supply at the Windsor Castle estate, where the Wales family of five live at the four-bedroom Adelaide Cottage (though not for long, as they\u2019re expected to relocate to the eight-bedroom Forest Lodge by early November). There are so many conkers, in fact, that many of the nuts were donated to the World Conker Championships by the royal estate at Windsor Castle, Hello! reported.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was a real joy to have conkers sent to us this time,\u201d Burkett said. \u201cThe Windsor Castle delivery was of really good quality. They were fantastic. They were the ones that really ensured we could go ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n Getty<\/p>\n Prince Louis and Kate Middleton on May 8, 2023 Getty<\/p>\n Princess Charlotte, Prince George, Prince Louis, and Prince William<\/p>\n Louis carried out his first official royal engagement in 2023 and, much to our delight, has taken part in many royal engagements since, participating in annual events like Trooping the Colour and the Christmas day walk to St. Mary Magdalene Church on the Sandringham estate. While we love seeing the kids in action, dad William stressed during a visit to Cape Town, South Africa last November in support of his Earthshot Prize Awards that his kids\u2019 education is the priority right now.<\/p>\n \u201cFamily-wise, you\u2019ll have to wait a little bit longer, because obviously they\u2019re at school and I think that takes priority over everything else,\u201d the Prince of Wales said last year.<\/p>\n![\"Getty](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/c05014463a691ebd2870d41554028725.jpeg\"\/)
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