Lady Louise just revealed her real royal surname

The youngest granddaughter of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince
Philip has just graduated from St. Andrew’s University in Scotland
and given a very clear answer to an ongoing royal question.

Lady Louise Mountbatten-Windsor took part in the traditional
graduation ceremony following the completion of her honours
degree.

She’s been studying English at the university which is also
famous for being the alma mater of the Prince and Princess of
Wales.

As she prepared to collect her degree, Louise was introduced by
her full name, clearing up the confusion about how she is
known.

For years, there’s been debate about whether she’s Louise
Windsor or Louise Mountbatten-Windsor.

In this very public and formal ceremony, she was called forward
as Louise Mountbatten-Windsor, underlining the fact that she is
known by the name that Elizabeth II decreed all her descendants
with non royal titles could use.

In 1960, the late Queen said that all her children and
grandchildren who weren’t HRH could be known as
Mountbatten-Windsor, melding her own dynastic name with the surname
of her husband who was part of the Mountbatten family.

When Louise was bornin, 2003, her parents, the Duke and Duchess
of Edinburgh, said she would be known as Lady Louise
Mountbatten-Windsor but since then, she has often been called just
Louise Windsor.

Now, the 22 year old has made it clear how she prefers to be
knowon.

However, there was no title for Louise at the graduation
ceremony. She was called Louise, rather than Lady Louise. When her
cousin, the Prince of Wales, graduated in 2005, he also dropped his
title. The now heir to the throne was called forward to receive his
degree as William Wales.

The graduation marks the end of a happy and successful time at
university for Lady Louise who has taken on holiday jobs during her
breaks from studying.

As she prepares to start a new chapter in her life, speculation
will once again rise over whether or not Louise will become a full
time working member of the Royal Family.

Both her parents have busy diaries of official engagements and
Louise has been praised in the past for her confidence and warmth.
She, however, has made it clear that she enjoys life away from the
royal spotlight and worked contentedly at a garden centre and at
the latest Royal Windsor Horse Show.

She’ll be leaving university just as her younger brother packs
his bags to head to college.

James, the Earl of Wessex, is completing his A Levels and is
expected to head off to take a degree in the autumn.

Both James and Louise are entitled to use royal titles but they
and their parents have always chosen for them not to.

Under the 1917 Letters Patent, issued by King George V, they
could be HRH and Prince/ Princess as both are grandchildren of a
Monarch in the male line. In 1999, when Edward and Sophie married,
Buckingham Palace issued a press release saying that any future
children would use the titles of the offspring of an earl – at the
time, their parents were the Earl and Countess of Wessex. However,
Sophie revealed in an interview years later, that the option of HRH
remained and it was up to her children to decide whether to take it
up or not.

Given Lady Louise’s determination to make her own way in the
world, the chances of her swapping Mountbatten-Windsor for an HRH
any time soon look low.