Royal baby named Prince Louis
- Published
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have named their third child Louis Arthur Charles.
The couple's second son was born at 11:01 BST on Monday at the Lindo Wing of St Mary's Hospital in London, weighing 8lb 7oz.
A tweet from Kensington Palace, external said the baby would be known as His Royal Highness Prince Louis of Cambridge (pronounced Lou-ee, not Lou-iss).
The new prince is fifth in line to the throne.
Prince Louis Arthur Charles on the day he was born
Louis is one of the middle names of Prince William and of the new prince's brother, George.
It was also the first name of Lord Mountbatten - his great-great-great uncle - who was killed by the IRA in 1979.
Lord Mountbatten had a strong influence in the upbringing of great-nephew Prince Charles and was described by the latter as "the grandfather I never had".
Arthur is also one of the duke's middle names, and was a middle name of King George VI - the Queen's father.
'A family favourite'
By Sarah Campbell, BBC royal correspondent
The pool of names considered suitable for a prince is not large and yet, the wait between birth and public naming suggests there was some indecision about what to call the new baby.
It did give punters four days to place their bets, though - and most of them will be disappointed.
Louis certainly wasn't the front-runner as far as the bookies were concerned, but it is clearly a family favourite.
William and George both have it as a middle name.
But with its French and German origins, it will no doubt generate some eyebrow-raising, Brexit-related comment.
There will also no doubt be some confusion over the pronunciation (Loo-ee not Loo-iss).
What is certain is that we are unlikely to see much of Prince Louis of Cambridge in the coming months and years.
His parents remain determined to bring up all three of their children away from the public's gaze as much as is possible.
Bookmakers had Arthur as the favourite name for the prince, followed by James and Philip.
Historian Judith Rowbotham said Louis is "not a traditional Windsor name" and a "little surprising" - but said it was still a safe choice for the royals.
"It's very much an acknowledgement of a wider heritage," Dr Rowbotham said, adding that it is also "very much an affectionate tribute" to the Prince of Wales, who was "deeply devoted" to Lord Mountbatten.
Lord Mountbatten, who was a mentor to great-nephew Prince Charles, in 1959
Former One Direction star Louis Tomlinson tweeted: "Young Louis welcome to the world. I'll take you under my wing lad. The Adidas tracksuit is in the post!"
Allow Twitter content?
This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’.
Louis is the 71st most popular name for a boy in England and Wales, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
The name was 38th out of the top 100 baby names for boys in 2004 but has been declining in popularity.
In 2016, 911 newborn boys were named Louis by their parents compared to more than 5,000 who were named George.
You may also like:
On Thursday evening, Prince William told reporters that they were still deciding on a name, saying: "I'm working on that."
Earlier in the week, he said Catherine and the baby were "in good form, luckily", and added: "Sleeping's going reasonably well so far, so he's behaving himself, which is good news."
To mark the royal birth, Disney created a sketch and animation featuring Winnie-the-Pooh delivering a personalised balloon to Prince Louis, who is depicted with his parents, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge
A round-up of the newborn prince's big day