The Prince and Princess of Wales have politely turned down a role offered to their youngest son, Prince Louis. After hearing about his passion for collecting conkers, the World Conker Championships wrote to the Prince and Princess of Wales, offering Louis his first official role as their honorary patron.

The Telegraph reveals that Prince William and Kate declined the offer as Louis is not yet a working member of the royal family, with a Kensington Palace spokesperson telling the newspaper: “We really appreciate the invite but currently Prince Louis is ‘conker-trating’ on his studies.”

It comes after Kate revealed her son’s hobby during her engagement with the Scouts and First Lady Melania Trump in Windsor last month. The Princess, who is joint president of the Scouts, told Chief Scout Dwayne Fields: “We keep finding conkers in cupboards, in his bed – conkers everywhere!” before adding that Louis even puts the conkers in his toy trucks and plays with them.

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The World Conker Championships has raised £420,000 for charities that support the visually impaired since 1965. The competition takes place every year on the 2^nd Sunday of October in Northamptonshire as participants battle for the titles of Conker King and Queen. And it seems that conkers are in abundance in Windsor, where the Waleses live, as many of the nuts were donated to the Championships by the royal estate at Windsor Castle.

Louis carried out his first official engagement in 2023 as he and his family volunteered with the Scouts in Slough, and he has joined his parents at a number of high-profile outings in recent years, including Trooping the Colour, the VE Day 80 commemorations, and the Christmas Day walkabout.

School comes first

While Prince George, 12, Princess Charlotte, ten, and Prince Louis, seven, will one day carry out public duties, William has been keen to stress that their education is their priority now. During his visit to Cape Town in South Africa last November, he said: “Family-wise, you’ll have to wait a little bit longer because obviously they’re at school and I think that takes priority over everything else.”

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The royal youngsters attend Lambrook Preparatory School in Berkshire, with George set to move schools at the end of the academic year in 2026. His parents’ former schools, Eton College and Marlborough College, have been tipped as contenders.