The late Queen Elizabeth II was known to be close to her many descendants. One relation who is said to have been among the Queen’s favourites is the youngest of her eight grandchildren, James, Viscount Severn. The second child of her youngest son, Prince Edward, 14-year-old James and his sister, 18-year-old Lady Louise Windsor, were born a good few years after their royal first cousins – who range between 32 (Princess Eugenie) and 44 (Peter Phillips) in age.
Born by caesarean section at Frimley Park Hospital on 17 December 2007, James’s full name, James Alexander Philip Theo, was announced four days later. The BBC reported at the time that his father described his newborn son as ‘very cute and very cuddly’. As the youngest child and only son of Prince Edward and the Countess of Wessex, he’s currently – as of the birth of Beatrice’s baby last year – 15th in the line of succession to the British throne.
At the time of his birth, however, he was eighth in line, ahead of his older sister, Lady Louise. The Succession of the Crown Act now means that male offspring no longer take precedence over females in the Royal Family, but the Act was passed in 2013, and only applies to those born after October 28, 2011. Therefore James’s place in the order of succession remains ahead of Louise, and was unchanged when his cousin Zara Tindall gave birth to her third baby, Lucas, last year (because Zara is the daughter of Princess Anne, who, although older than Edward, was also born before the Act came into force).
James was baptised in the Private Chapel of Windsor Castle in April 2008. He became the first royal baby to wear a newly-made replica of the royal christening gown that dates back to the christening of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert’s eldest child, also named Victoria, in 1840. The original 1800s gown has now been preserved, with most royal babies since the Viscount having also been christened in the replica.
James’s styling as Viscount Severn (one of his father’s subsidiary titles) is a nod to his mother’s Welsh familial roots, alluding to the River Severn. Although it’s customary to assign princely status and the style of Royal Highness to all children of a monarch’s sons, it was announced by Buckingham Palace on Edward and Sophie’s marriage in 1999 that their children would be styled as the children of an earl, rather than as prince or princess. The Countess told the Sunday Times in 2020: ‘We try to bring them up with the understanding that they are very likely to have to work for a living… Hence we made the decision not to use HRH titles. They have them and can decide to use them from 18, but it’s highly unlikely.’
Both Lady Louise and James have lakes named after them in Canada, an honour bestowed on them by the Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba-in-Council when their father visited the Canadian province of Manitoba in 2008. The Vancouver Sun reported at the time that the then-Manitoba Premier, Gary Doer, ‘presented the Prince with a pair of framed notices naming two Northwestern Manitoba lakes after his two children, Louise, four, and James, five months.’
James lives with his parents and older sister at the family home of Bagshot Park in Surrey, 11 miles from Windsor – conveniently close to one of his grandmother’s royal residences, Windsor Castle. James has reportedly been educated at both Eagle House School and St George’s School Windsor Castle, two nearby independent, co-educational prep schools. As both schools only go up to age 13, however, he most likely started at a new school last year.
Source: Tatler.com