King’s niece makes public debut with Australian boyfriend after years of rumours

Lady Louise Windsor has been photographed alongside her Australian boyfriend in public for the first time during a double date to the theatre with her parents, the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh.

The 22-year-old royal, who is the niece of King Charles III, was seen with Felix da Silva-Clamp at the Royal Lyceum Theatre in Edinburgh at a performance of INALA, the Grammy-nominated production.

They had watched the show with Prince Edward and his wife Sophie.

The royals then met with members of the South African dance musical cast in photos shared by the show’s producers, the House of Sisters Grimm.

The photos were accompanied by the caption: “It was incredibly special to welcome the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh, a full-circle moment, 12 years after our world premiere here in Edinburgh, and after performing for the Prince and Princess of Wales in 2014 and Prince Harry in 2019, we’re now sharing INALA with another generation of the Royal Family”.

Lady Louise is believed to have met da Silva-Clamp, who has an Australian mother, during a student play on campus at St Andrew’s University in Scotland, where they both were students.

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They starred in a production of Dragon Fever, with Lady Louise performing in the chorus and da Silva-Clamp playing “an impressionable and naive young squire”, according to British media.

da Silva-Clamp was born in London but attended school at Melbourne Grammar.

He has been seen with Lady Louise at various carriage driving competitions including the Sandringham Horse Driving Trials. They started dating in 2024.

Both Lady Louise and da Silva-Clamp graduated from St Andrew’s in early July. He was then seen sitting next to Lady Louise when she received her Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award at the Palace of Holyroodhouse.

Lady Louise, who completed a degree in English and international relations, is now taking a gap year where she is expected to spend her time working, volunteering and travelling.

There are rumours she may visit Australia for part of her gap year, following in the footsteps of her cousins Prince Harry and Zara Tindall. da Silva-Clamp’s mother is understood to live in Melbourne.

Following her gap year, Lady Louise is expected to pursue a career away from the royal family which may include the armed forces. A LinkedIn profile, believed to Lady Louise’s, said in 2024: “I am interested in pursuing a career in the military, diplomacy, or law”.

Last year, Lady Louise was photographed as part of the Tayforth University Officers’ Training Corps where she has had basic weapons training, leadership lessons and a course in navigating tough terrain under pressure. The corps was made up of students from various Scottish universities.

If Lady Louise decides to pursue a career in the military, it will make her the first female royal to do so since her late grandmother Queen Elizabeth II, who served in the Auxiliary Territorial Service during World War Two.

Lady Louise, who is the eldest child of Prince Edward and Sophie, has been a prominent figure a prominent figure at royal family-related events over the years including the monarch’s official birthday celebrations in London known as Trooping the Colour, Christmas at Sandringham and Easter at Windsor Castle.

In 2022, she took $13.16-an-hour job in a local garden centre at Windsor before starting university.

According to The Sun, Lady Louise helped out on the tills, greeted customers and pruned and potted plants. One shopper told the newspaper: “I couldn’t believe it was Lady Louise − I had to look twice”.

Another said: “You’d never imagine the queen’s granddaughter would take on a role working behind a till.”

Last week Buckingham Palace announced her younger brother James, the Earl of Wessex, would soon begin at university.

A statement issued from the palace on behalf of the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh said: “The Earl of Wessex will be going to the Royal Agricultural University to study Rural Land and Property Management. He will head straight there without taking a year out.”

James, 18, will study Rural Land and Property Management, having spent the summer working as a farmhand on King Charles’ private Sandringham estate.

The young royal was seen driving tractors after finishing at Radley College, an independent boarding school in Oxfordshire.