At the age of seven, Prince Louis is just like any other young boy who loves jumping on his trampoline, getting outside with his dog and playing with his older siblings. It will be some time before the young prince takes on official, full-time royal duties—if he does at all—but a sweet invitation was recently issued for Louis to take on his very first royal patronage. And while the role is related to one of his favorite interests, unfortunately, the Prince and Princess of Wales turned it down.
During a joint engagement with Melania Trump and the U.K. Scouts, Princess Kate revealed that her youngest child has an affinity for conkers (better known as buckeyes or horse chestnuts in part of the United States). The brown seeds of the horse chestnut tree are used to play a popular children’s game in Great Britain, and apparently, Prince Louis is obsessed.
“We keep finding conkers in cupboards, in his bed—conkers everywhere!” the Princess of Wales said during the event. Per the Telegraph, the World Conker Championships wrote to William and Kate asking if Louis might want to become their official patron.
Prince Louis, seen on Christmas Day 2024, has been collecting conkers recently.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Prince Louis is seen with the Royal Family during Trooping the Colour 2025.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Per the Telegraph, the World Conker Championships expressed their hope that Prince William and Princess Kate would accept their offer. “We were so heartened to hear that Prince Louis is such a conkers fan and he would be the perfect honorary patron for our organization,” a representative said.
Although their letter “tickled Kensington Palace staff,” sadly, the Prince and Princess of Wales “politely declined as he is not a working royal.” A palace spokesperson added, “We really appreciate the invite but currently Prince Louis is ‘conker-trating’ on his studies.”
It turns out this year’s competition was saved by none other than King Charles, who helped provide conkers from the Windsor Castle estate. Because of a shortage of the seeds after an especially dry summer in the U.K., the championships almost didn’t happen, but luckily, “Windsor Castle sent a parcel of more than 300 conkers,” per the Telegraph.
While it doesn’t seem like Prince Louis will be supporting conker-playing in any official way, perhaps he’ll attend next year’s championships.
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