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Irish Mirror
Irish Mirror
Entertainment
Jennifer Newton

Prince Louis could be granted top royal title after King Charles' latest royal shake-up

A recent title shake-up by King Charles has seen a raft of changes for members of the Royal Family.

Not only have Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's children now officially become Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet - there's also been changes for Prince Edward and his wife Sophie.

Today it was confirmed he has been handed his late father’s title the Duke of Edinburgh, honouring the late Queen and Philip’s wishes.

Charles conferred the title on the former Earl of Wessex in celebration of Edward’s 59th birthday on Friday.

Sophie, the former Countess of Wessex, is now the Duchess of Edinburgh and their 15-year-old son James, Viscount Severn is the new Earl of Wessex.

Prince William and Kate's youngest son Prince Louis (Samir Hussein/WireImage)
King Charles has made several changes to titles recently (Samir Hussein/WireImage)

However, there is a small catch with Edward's new Edinburgh title - it will only last for his lifetime and will not be hereditary - and this could be down to Prince Louis.

When Edward dies, the title of Duke of Edinburgh will revert to the Crown rather than be passed to his son James.

This paves the way for one of the Prince and Princess of Wales’s children to potentially be given the title in the future, with Louis the most likely candidate.

Louis with his older brother Prince George and sister Princess Charlotte (Mark Thomas/REX/Shutterstock)

Out of William and Kate's children, Prince George is set to be a future King, while it is likely Princess Charlotte will one day be made Princess Royal.

This means their youngest Louis could be made Duke of Edinburgh or another of Charles or his father William's choosing if he is King at that point.

Louis is fourth in line to the throne behind his father and siblings and his official current title is His Royal Highness Prince Louis of Wales.

But it turns out he only became a prince when he was born thanks to his great-grandmother the late Queen.

Prince Edward with wife Sophie, the new Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh (Getty Images)

This is because she intervened to overwrite a rule put in place by King George V.

Back in 1917, he set out new guidance on which royals were allowed to have titles - and who was too far down the line of succession to qualify for one.

He decided that all of the sovereign's children would automatically become a Prince or Princess, as well as any grandchildren born through the male line. However, great-grandchildren weren't included on the list.

This caused a bit of an issue when George was born, as despite being our future king he shouldn't have had the title.

The then Queen stepped in and said that George would get a title, and decided to extend the change to all of Kate and William's children.

Of course, if she didn't make the change, he still would have eventually become a prince when his grandfather King Charles took the throne back in September.

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