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Prince Louis will be wearing a very special gown when he gets baptised on Monday, July 9.
The christening dress the fifth-in-line will wear is the same gown worn by his siblings, Prince George and Princess Charlotte when they were christened in 2013 and 2015 respectively.
The gown is an exact replica of the gown commissioned by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert when their first child, Victoria was baptised.
The royal couple had the gown commissioned in 1841 and was made by Scottish dressmaker Janet Sutherland using the same fabrics which Victoria had incorporated into her wedding dress the year before – the fabrics used were Spitalfields silk and Honiton Lace.
Queen Victoria declared her daughter looked “very dear” in it.
The original gown was worn by 62 royal babies, including then-Princess Elizabeth, now the Queen for her christening at Buckingham Palace in 1926.
The dress was also worn by Prince Charles and his sons Prince William and Prince Harry.
However Lady Louise Windsor was the last royal to be baptised in the original gown as it was deemed too fragile to wear.
A new gown was commissioned by the Queen and made by royal dressmaker Angela Kelly.
James, Viscount Severn, the infant son of the Earl and Countess of Wessex, was the first royal to be christened in the brand new replica.
The replica gown has been worn by Louis’ siblings, Prince George and Princess Charlotte at their christenings in 2013 and 2015.
It was also worn by their cousins Savannah and Isla Philips, the daughters of Princess Anne’s son Peter Philips.
Prince Louis will be christened in a small ceremony at the Chapel Royal in St James’s Palace.
It will be the first time the newest royal has been seen in public since his birth on April 23.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are likely to keep the ceremony small, as they did for the christenings of Prince George and Princess Charlotte.
The godparents will be announced on the morning of the christening, but if the godparents of Prince George and Princess Charlotte’s are anything to go by, they will choose close friends and cousins, rather than closer relatives.
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