The Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh’s son, James, Earl of Wessex, celebrated his 16th birthday on Sunday.
Whereas James and his older sister, Woman Louise Windsor, aren’t anticipated to hold out royal duties as soon as they’ve accomplished their training, James’s beginning sparked a brand new royal custom.
Prince Edward and Sophie welcomed their son on 17 December 2005 at Frimley Park Hospital in Surrey.
4 months later, he was baptised within the personal chapel of Windsor Fort and he was the primary royal child to put on a reproduction of the unique royal christening robe.
The Honiton and lace robe dated again to 1841 when it was created for Victoria, Princess Royal’s christening. It was utilized by the royal household till 2004, by which level it had been worn by 62 royal kids, together with King Charles and his sons, Prince William and Prince Harry.
Woman Louise was the final royal child to put on the unique christening robe. It had turn into too delicate so the late Queen Elizabeth II commissioned her private wardrobe advisor, Angela Kelly, to create a reproduction.
© GettyPrincess Beatrice and Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi’s daughter, Sienna, was the final child to put on the newer robe for her christening in April 2022.
Woman Louise and James are rising up out of the general public eye, though they’ve attended some main royal occasions in recent times, together with Trooping the Color, the late Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations and King Charles’s coronation.
The siblings additionally guarded their late grandmother Queen Elizabeth II’s coffin throughout a transferring vigil when she was mendacity in state at Westminster Corridor days earlier than her funeral in September 2022.
They joined their cousins, Prince William, Prince Harry, Princess Beatrice, Princess Eugenie, Zara Tindall and Peter Phillips.
© GettyWoman Louise is at present finding out English at St Andrews college in Scotland, whereas James is within the ultimate yr of his secondary training and can sit his GCSEs subsequent spring.
James was beforehand referred to as Viscount Severn, however following the change in his mother and father’ royal titles from the Earl and Countess of Wessex to the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh in March 2023, he took on his father’s former title.
© GettyThe dukedom – which prior to now has been hereditary – won’t, nonetheless, cross all the way down to the Edinburghs’ son James when Edward dies.
Viscount Severn will turn into the Earl of Wessex and Forfar when the title of The Duke of Edinburgh reverts to the Crown, the Palace mentioned.
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