Whether dressed in tailored suits and polished skirts for an evening at the theatre or proudly supporting one another during a day of carriage racing at the Royal Windsor Horse Show, Lady Louise, 22, and her boyfriend Felix Silva-Champ have a noticeably traditional air about them. Young and fresh-faced they may be, but their romance has the kind of quietly old-fashioned charm more often associated with couples many decades their senior.
The pair, who met while at university, appear far more likely to be seen browsing a garden centre than heading out for a noisy night in a club.
Little wonder, then, that some royal watchers have drawn comparisons with another famously steady and grounded royal love story: that of the late Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip.
Royal author Rob Jobson has said Louise first crossed paths with Felix at St Andrews, where the two became friends after both being cast in a student production at the Byre Theatre.
They were first linked in 2024 and are said to have been together since June 2025, though they have kept their relationship so understated that, for a while, royal correspondents referred to Felix simply as Louise’s “pal”.
More recently, the couple have begun appearing side by side at family occasions and royal engagements, yet their discreet romance remains far removed from the turbulence and headlines that have surrounded other members of the Royal Family.
Their bond is understood to have deepened during rehearsals, with an easy friendship gradually developing into something more romantic.
Even so, after more than a year of dating, Lady Louise and Felix Silva-Champ have succeeded in keeping much of their relationship firmly out of the spotlight.
Despite being a frequent face at royal events, Lady Louise Windsor has kept largely out of the spotlight: her relationship with boyfriend Felix Silva-Clamp
Louise, 22, first met Felix, 22, at St Andrews University, where they became friends after being cast in a student play at the Byre Theatre
That changed this summer when Felix joined Louise and her parents, the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh, at a performance of the Zulu ballet Inala at the Edinburgh International Festival, where they were pictured chatting to cast members.
He has also supported Louise at carriage-driving competitions, including Ashfields in Essex, where, according to Mr Jobson, ‘onlookers watched him punch the air as she came through the water’.
The author added: ‘Nothing royal about him, just a young man in love standing in a wet field in Essex, cheering his girlfriend on.’
According to Mr Jobson, Felix’s background is well-suited for Louise, given that her mother, Sophie, originates from a middle-class background.
Born in Kensington in 2004, he is the son of London solicitor Jonathan da Silva-Clamp, a former Conservative parliamentary candidate, and Australian doctor Kendall Searle.
The family later moved to Australia, where Felix attended Melbourne Grammar School before heading to St Andrews.
He and Louise also joined the same reserve army unit and share interests including theatre and traditional Scottish dancing.
Their low-key relationship is a far cry from Prince Harry’s ‘Party Prince’ days, when his nights out stumbling out of nightclubs and relationships with former girlfriends Chelsy Davy and Cressida Bonas regularly made headlines.
The same could be said for other relatives like Princess Eugenie, who earned a reputation in her early twenties as a regular on the London club scene, frequently photographed leaving popular West End and Mayfair hotspots.
Felix has supported Louise at carriage-driving competitions, including The Sandringham Festiuve of Carriage Driving (pictured) and Ashfields in Essex
The Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh attended the Edinburgh International Festival TRH alongside Lady Louise and Felix, where they met the cast of INALA
The couple’s low-key relationship is a far cry from Prince Harry’s ‘Party Prince’ days, when his nights stumbling out of nightclubs regularly made headlines
The same could be said for other relatives like Princess Eugenie, who earned a reputation in her early twenties as a regular on the London club scene
According to royal author Rob Jobson, there has long been a striking resemblance between Lady Louise and her grandmother Queen Elizabeth II – both physically and in temperament
Instead, it appears Louise and Felix appear happy to keep their heads down and get on with life. And in many ways, that is very much keeping in line with Louise herself.
According to Mr Jobson, there has long been a striking resemblance between Lady Louise and her grandmother – both physically and in temperament.
He wrote: ‘Some say it is her grandmother all over again. Elizabeth made up her mind as teenager about a Greek prince with royal blood, Philip – even though he has no money and unhelpful German relations, and never moved an inch while the courtiers sniffed.
‘Constancy and steadfastness was at the heart of her character, in marriage as in everything else, and it was perhaps underestimated.
‘Like Lady Louise, Princess Elizabeth was a quiet girl who knew exactly what she wanted when it came to love.
‘People say Lady Louise looks like her grandmother. There is a resemblance. But the likeness that matters mode is not in the face.’
Before her passing aged 96 in 2022, Louise was known as the granddaughter who spent huge amounts of time with the Queen, regularly staying at Lady Windsor during her childhood.
While some of her older cousins came and went, Louise was often there at weekends, giving her years to watch how her grandmother lived.
What the young royal appears to have picked up was the Queen’s unfussy approach to life.
Experts say the young royal appears to have picked up the late Queen’s unfussy approach to life
While some of her older cousins came and went, Louise was often at Windsor Castle at weekends, giving her years to watch how her grandmother lived
Pictured: Lady Louise Windsor views the flowers left by mourners for Queen Elizabeth II outside Balmoral Castle on September 10, 2022 in Aberdeen, Scotland
Lady Louise bear similar traits to her grandmother, who, aged 19, trained as a mechanic and driver with the Auxiliary Territorial Service during the Second World War
Mr Jobson added: ‘[The Queen] regarded clothes as a uniform; a way of being visible in a crowd. Taking good care of them so they would last. Always immaculately turned out, she gave them very little further thought.
‘Lady Louise is the same. Always smart, but unfussy. She wore her coronation dress again to Trooping the Colour.
‘At Christmas she was in her mother’s beige Prada coat, first worn at Royal Ascot a decade earlier, with a Jane Taylor hat Sophie had worn to a Rifles homecoming in 2017.’
But that level of modesty extends beyond her outfit choices – her mother Sophie has spoken openly about bringing her children up with the expectation that they would have to work for a living, and Louise certainly has.
At 18, she spent the summer working at a Surrey garden centre for around £6.60 an hour, serving customers and working behind the till.
One shopper described her as ‘really modest and sweet’, saying you would ‘never imagine the Queen’s granddaughter’ working there.
She later worked in the university canteen while studying English literature at St Andrews.
This very trait links her once more to her grandmother, who, aged 19, trained as a mechanic and driver with the Auxiliary Territorial Service during the Second World War, after pushing her father, King George VI, to let her play a role in the war effort.
Felix (left) with Louise’s mother Sophie at a carriage driving competition at the Royal Sandringham estate in Norfolk
While Prince William and Kate’s romance at St Andrews became a media obsession, Louise and Felix have enjoyed something much closer to an ordinary student relationship
Louise’s love of horses and carriage driving, meanwhile, comes from Prince Philip, taking the sport up seriously after his death, driving his carriage at Lady Windsor and competing herself.
Mr Jobson wrote: ‘She has her grandmother’s temperament and her grandfather’s hobby.
‘Level headed, thoughtful and kind. Those who knew the late Queen at that age would recognise a good deal of her in this young woman.’
And now, her relationship with Felix seems to fit the same mould.
While Prince William and Catherine’s romance at St Andrews became a media obsession, Louise and Felix have enjoyed something much closer to an ordinary student relationship.
A royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliams told The Telegraph: ‘They look like a very normal, well-suited couple who have been able to lead normal university lives and develop common interests.
He has also said Louise and her younger brother James, the Earl of Wessex, are ‘clearly of conservative tendencies’.
For now, Louise is taking a gap year after graduating from St Andrews and is considering a career in the Armed Forces, while continuing with carriage driving, with Felix seemingly content with cheering her on from the sidelines.
According to Jobson, the late Queen was often at her most relaxed away from the cameras – at the racecourse, in the stables or simply getting on with the job.
Lady Louise appears very much the same, grounded and happiest when nobody is really watching.
