Lady Louise Windsor, 21, shines in student productions with her university boyfriend

Lady Louise Windsor has been getting thoroughly stuck into life at St Andrews University – taking a major role in several student plays. 

The 21-year-old, known as the royal family’s ‘secret weapon’ due to her resemblance to Queen Elizabeth II and fun-loving nature, is having a typical university experience at a Scottish institution.

Lady Louise, the oldest child of Prince Edward and Sophie, is said to have a passion for acting and is now part of the St Andrews Mermaids, a group involved in student theatre productions.

Newly released images show the 16th in line to the throne demonstrating her talent on stage and enjoying time with her university peers backstage.

Alongside her English degree, she has played Sir Oliver Surface in the comedy School For Scandal, Lady Caversham in Oscar Wilde’s An Ideal Husband and starred in Dragon Fever, a student-written play based on a Spanish novel. 

Her boyfriend Felix da Silva-Clamp is also known to have a passion for student theatre, regularly starring alongside Louise – including in the recent School For Scandal production. 

According to a review of Dragon Fever in student newspaper The Saint, Lady Louise -playing ‘powerful and cynical witch’ Nilvana – gave ‘consistent performances throughout’ and ‘displayed impressive physicality and gave a compelling performance’.

Meanwhile, her boyfriend Felix was praised for a ‘standout performance’ with ‘plenty of stage presence’. 

Lady Louise Windsor has been getting thoroughly stuck into life at St Andrews University – taking a major role in several student plays

Lady Louise, 21, has appeared in promotional pictures for the student productions on social media

Another review gushed: ‘Our narrator, Louise Mountbatten-Windsor, consistently treated us to engaging and well-elocuted storytelling.’

A source told The Mirror: ‘Lady Louise is a delightful young woman and a favourite of everyone in the family. 

‘She has made a really solid group of friends at university and is a credit to herself.’ 

Lady Louise was also seen posing for promotional shots for the plays, as the Chorus and for more major roles.  

She is following in the footsteps of her father Prince Edward, who was involved in the Light Entertainment Society while attending Cambridge. 

Later, he worked as a theatre production assistant at Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Really Useful Theatre Company and formed his own company Ardent Productions. 

However, his attempt at TV in 1987’s It’s A Royal Knockout was widely panned – as the show saw Royal Family members dressed in period costumes in a celebrity tournament at Alton Towers theme park. 

He eventually dusted himself off and tried once again to make a career in the entertainment world work.

Lady Louise is pictured, left, taking to the stage at university with puppets

She is following in the footsteps of her father, Prince Edward, who was also involved in student Theatre at Cambridge

Lady Louise has been enjoying a low-key university life, with the fun-loving royal attending parties

Lady Louise’s boyfriend, Felix Da Silva Clamp, starred alongside her in the comedy, School For Scandal

In 1993 the prince launched Ardent Productions, in which he personally invested £205,000.

It floundered in its first year, failing to win a single commission, but in July 1995 there was a breakthrough, with Channel 4 agreeing to let the then earl front a short series on the niche game of real tennis – an indoor pursuit, played with wooden racquets.

Ardent’s big break came in 1996 with Edward On Edward, a documentary fronted by the prince about Edward VIII, his abdication in 1938 and his subsequent controversial life.

Lady Louise and Felix have been forging a strong bond over the past two years, with Felix – whose father is a solicitor – even travelling down to the Sandringham estate in Norfolk to see Louise at her driving competition in June, where she won an impressive silver medal. 

They’ve also been seen partying the night away at student balls and gatherings. 

Despite being cousins with Princess Beatrice, Princess Eugenie, Prince William and Prince Harry, Louise uses the title ‘Lady’ rather than ‘Princess’.

She was not made a princess at birth because her father, Prince Edward, wanted to shield her from the pressures of a life in the public eye. 

Speaking to The Sunday Times in 2020, her mother, Sophie, explained: ‘We try to bring them up with the understanding that they are very likely to have to work for a living. Hence we made the decision not to use HRH titles.’ 

Prince Edward is seen during rehearsals for Arthur Miller’s The Crucible during his days at Jesus College, Cambridge

Lady Louise played Sir Oliver Surface in the same play, which was reviewed by student media

She also starred as Lady Caversham in Oscar Wilde’s An Ideal Husband

Reviews described her consistent acting and compelling stage presence 

The royal is studying English at St Andrews University and has previously said she’s interested in a career in ‘diplomacy, military or law’ 

Despite being a member of the royal family, and famously close with her grandmother Queen Elizabeth II, Lady Louise enjoyed a down-to-earth upbringing

Lady Louise is pictured top row, second from right, following a recent performance with Mermaids theatre

New behind-the-scenes photos have shown her learning lines and reading through scripts

Lady Louise looked excited to get started as she read through scripts

Louise has previously expressed an interest in pursuing a career in ‘the military, diplomacy or law’.

Lady Louise is thought to have been extremely close with her late grandmother, having paid nearly fortnightly visits to Elizabeth and Phillip.

Ingrid Seward explained that Louise and her brother, James, Earl of Wessex, ‘were the grandchildren that they saw the most.’

In comparison, ‘while the older ones were seen less frequently, this little girl was there every weekend.’

It was even reported that Louise had no idea her grandmother was the Queen until later in life, her parents wanting to preserve a ‘normal childhood’ for her.

Her mother, Sophie, once revealed in at an interview that as a child, Louise had come home one day saying: ‘Mummy, people keep on telling me that grandma is the Queen.’

Lady Louise was their seventh grandchild. And for Philip, she brought not just joy but a sense of personal pride.

This was because she became the first royal to officially carry the surname Mountbatten-Windsor – so allowing Philip’s surname, Mountbatten, to continue into the future of the Royal family.

The 21-year-old has in the past been dubbed the royal family ‘s ‘secret weapon’

Here, she is pictured third from right (back row) after receiving bouquets following a performance

Lady Louise was involved in the 2023 production of Braided, where a family navigated their way through tragedy following a shocking incident

The piece interrogates the extremities of loss, blame and the balance between empathy and anger

Lady Louise is believed to ‘adore acting’ and has dedicated much of her free time to it

The royal is seen behind the scenes reading through a play to learn her lines

As well as more major roles, Lady Louise has been the narrator and in the ensemble

In pictures posted by students, Lady Louise is seen reading through a script

Here she is pictured on stage (at the front, centre) in a performance given at the university

A former aide said Philip would be ‘thrilled’ that, 55 years after the birth of his first child, a member of the Royal Family would finally be carrying on the Mountbatten line.

But Lady Louise also shared a love of carriage driving with the late Duke of Edinburgh, who was instrumental in helping to establish the activity as a sport in Britain.

As part of her parents’ effort to maintain a normal life for the children, Louise is scarcely seen at royal events. 

In January, it was revealed she is following in Queen Elizabeth’s legacy as she continued her military endeavours. 

In photos shared on social media, she looked to be in high spirits as she donned military gear and covered her face in camo paint while taking part in training with her university’s officers’ training corps. 

Other snaps from previous years, shared to the Tayforth University Officers’ Training Corps (TUOTC) Instagram page – dedicated to the Army Reserve unit which recruits exclusively from students across the region – show the 16th-in-line at ceremonial events, including a Remembrance Day parade.

In one image, she can be seen channelling her late beloved grandmother Elizabeth as she stands by the Union Jack in a brown blazer and tartan skirt, sporting her finery.

Elsewhere, she posed with her peers in a more action-ready camouflage ensemble, hair pulled back, at a Scottish Martial Traditions evening at Edinburgh Castle.

In the summer, Lady Louise was said to have ‘fallen in love’ with army cadets, a source has said.

She had reportedly said on her LinkedIn page that she is interested in pursuing a career in ‘the military, diplomacy or law’.