Prince Louis Is Struggling to Understand the Queen’s Death

At just four, Prince Louis was deemed too young to join older siblings Prince George and Princess Charlotte at his great-grandmother's funeral.

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Prince Louis
(Image credit: The Princess of Wales via Getty)

This morning, Prince George and Princess Charlotte joined their parents, the Prince and Princess of Wales, at their great-grandmother Queen Elizabeth’s funeral at Westminster Abbey. But, like at great-grandfather Prince Philip’s memorial service back in March, there was no Prince Louis—understandably so, given his tender age of just four years old.

According to Louis’ mom, Kate Middleton, Louis is struggling to understand Her Majesty’s death, and is “asking questions” as he works to grasp the loss, according to Page Six.

According to Australia’s Governor-General David Hurley, Kate told him during a reception at Buckingham Palace on Saturday that “the younger one is now asking questions like ‘Do you think we can still play these games when we go to Balmoral [Castle, where the Queen passed away] and things like that, because she’s not going to be there?’” Hurley recalled, according to The Daily Mail.

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Hurley added that George, who is nine, is “sort of now realizing how important his great-grandmother was and what is going on.”

This echoes sentiments Kate told mourners, when she said George understood the Queen’s death more than Louis and Charlotte, who is seven.

Catherine, Princess of Wales, Princess Charlotte of Wales and Prince George of Wales arrive at Westminster Abbey for The State Funeral of Queen Elizabeth II on September 19, 2022 in London, England.

(Image credit: PAUL ELLIS/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

“She said they were keeping things as normal as possible for the children,” a mourner said, per Hello. The trio all started school at Lambrook on September 8, the same day the Queen died; this morning’s funeral is the first we have seen of George and Charlotte since. 

Rachel Burchfield
Rachel Burchfield
Senior Celebrity and Royals Editor

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.