Lady Louise Windsor, 17, was the picture of understated poise today as she joined her parents to look at flowers laid by wellwishers for her grandfather outside the ground of Windsor Castle.
The daughter of Sophie, Countess of Wessex and Prince Edward sported dark clothes for the appearance a day ahead of the funeral of Prince Philip.
Wearing a black knee-length skirt, single-breasted collared jacket and tights, the teenager tied her hair back and stood between her mother and father as she read tributes to The Duke of Edinburgh.
Lady Louise Windsor, 17, was the picture of understated poise today as she joined her parents to look at flowers laid by wellwishers for her grandfather outside the ground of Windsor Castle.
The daughter of Sophie, Countess of Wessex and Prince Edward sported dark clothes for the appearance a day ahead of the funeral of Prince Philip.
It comes hours after Louise, who is 14th in line to the throne, was spotted for a walk outside Windsor Castle with her mother, which is just a few miles from their Bagshot Park home.
The pair stayed casual for their walk in the Berkshire town, with Sophie donning jeans and a black jump white Louise opted for a grey jumper and skirt.
Tomorrow, Louise will join her mother and brother, James, Viscount Severn, 13, to St George’s Chapel to mourn the Duke of Edinburgh, who died last Friday at Windsor Castle, aged 99.
The trio will travel in a car to St George’s Chapel while their father of the Wessex family Prince Edward joins the procession of senior royals walking behind the Duke of Edinburgh’s coffin.
Wearing a black knee-length skirt, single-breasted collared jacket and tights, the teenager tied her hair back and stood next to her father as she read tributes to The Duke of Edinburgh.
Lady Louise’s appearance comes as a royal expert said she was an ‘asset to the firm’.
Speaking to FEMAIL, royal author and expert Ingrid Seward explained Lady Louise, the Queen’s youngest granddaughter, has ‘always been an asset’ to the royal family.
On Sunday Lady Louise joined her parents and uncle Prince Andrew for a service at Royal Chapel of All Saints, Windsor, before thanking estate workers for their support and hard work.
The Duke of Edinburgh’s funeral will be one of the most high profile events attended by the young royals, although they were invited to the weddings of their cousins, Prince Harry and Princess Eugenie, while Louise served as a bridesmaid at Prince William’s wedding when she was just seven.
Lady Louise, 17, joined her mother The Countess of Wessex at Winsdor Castle today to pay tribute to her grandfather
Sophie and Louise wore dark colours to look at the flowers this morning, they are pictured outside Windsor Castle
The guests who will be involved in Prince Philip’s funeral procession (left) and those who will be St George’s Chapel (right)
The minute-by-minute arrangements for Prince Philip’s funeral on Saturday have been revealed today and are shown above, starting at 11am and finishing just after 3pm
The Duke of Edinburgh’s teenage grandchildren Lady Louise Windsor and James, Viscount Severn, will be the youngest mourners at tomorrow’s funeral. On Sunday Lady Louise joined her parents and uncle Prince Andrew for a service at Royal Chapel of All Saints, Windsor, before thanking estate workers for their support and hard work. Pictured, at the event
‘She has always been an asset to the family and very polite which the Queen loves,’ Ingrid said.
‘Remember how she helped the bridesmaids on the steps of St. George’s Chapel as they went inside at Princess Eugenie’s wedding and her skirt blew up in the wind in front of the TV cameras? She handled it very deftly.’
She added on Lady Louise’s bond with the Duke of Edinburgh: ‘Prince Philip took pleasure in watching Louise compete at the Royal Windsor Horse Show.
‘I don’t think he taught her himself but he would have made sure she had some top-class tuition from one of his grooms and of course the availability of ponies and carriages to drive.’
The Earl of Wessex, Lady Louise Windsor and the Countess of Wessex view flowers outside St George’s Chapel today
Wardens stand outside Windsor Castle today following the death of the Duke of Edinburgh at the age of 99 last Friday
Meanwhile 13-year-old James has been trusted to join his parents and sister at public events despite his young age.
He will no doubt join his sister in supporting their mother on the way to Prince Philip’s funeral.
Prince Edward’s family will join the Queen and Philip’s siblings and six nieces and nephews and their respective spouses at the service in St George’s Chapel on Saturday.
Sophie and her daughter Lady Louise Windsor were also seen walking down the High Street in Windsor in jeans and flat shoes
The bouquets are picked up from the gates of Windsor each day and moved into the grounds of the castle
The 67-year-old Countess of Mountbatten – Penelope ‘Penny’ Knatchbull, previously known as Lady Romsey and later Lady Brabourne – have also been invited.
Three German relatives – whose ancestors were denied a place at Princess Elizabeth and Philip’s wedding because of anti-German feeling after the second war – have been included.
Others on the guest list include the Queen’s first cousins Princess Alexandra, the Duke of Gloucester and the Duke of Kent, who loyally supported the monarch and Philip by carrying out royal duties over the decades.
A sea of flowers outside St George’s Chapel, at Windsor Castle, Berkshire, where Philip will be laid to rest tomorrow
This is the funeral procession for tomorrow’s funeral, where William and Harry will not stand next to eachother with the Queen following behind in her car
Last week, Sophie led royal tributes to Prince Philip as she movingly described his death on Friday as ‘so gentle’ and said how his passing was ‘just like someone took him by the hand and off he went’.
Sophie was speaking to mourners outside the chapel at a Sunday service at the Royal Chapel of All Saints at Royal Lodge in Windsor.
She said: ‘You know it’s going to happen but when it happens it’s just this massive, massive hole. It was so gentle, it was just like someone took him by the hand and off he went.
‘Very, very peaceful and that’s all you want with somebody isn’t it? I think it’s so much easier for the person that goes than the people left behind, we’re all sitting here looking at each other going ‘This is awful’.’
Sophie and Lady Louise read the messages together as they walked looked at the floral tributes for around 15 minutes
The Earl of Wessex, Lady Louise Windsor and the Countess of Wessex view flowers outside St George’s Chapel, at Windsor Castle
Sophie, while looking over handwritten letters from children, could be heard saying ‘how sweet’, before speaking to her husband about the amount of flowers
Wreathes sent by the Government of New Zealand and the Government of Canada have also been laid
Lady Louise Windsor, daughter of the Earl and Countess of Wessex, walks down the High Street in Windsor this afternoon
The countess also called all the tributes to the Duke of Edinburgh ‘amazing’ and even shared a joke about the manicured lawn of the church yard. Pointing to the sky, Sophie remarked: ‘Well we know if [staff] had not done such a great job, there is one person who would have noticed!’
Edward, the Queen and Philip’s youngest son, emotionally revealed: ‘However one tries to prepare oneself for something like this, it’s still a dreadful shock and we’re sort of trying to come to terms with that.
‘It’s very, very, sad, but I have to say, the extraordinary tributes and the memories that everybody’s had and been willing to share has been so fantastic and it just goes to show, he might have been our father, grandfather, father-in-law, but he meant so much to so many other people.
‘And just being here this morning with everybody from Windsor Great Park and he was a ranger here for, I think, more years than any other ranger and he means so much to so many people here and it’s the same for those who lived and worked at Balmoral and Sandringham.
‘For all those past and present, he means a huge huge amount to them… they all have their own personal memories and stories and our hearts go out to all of them as well.’
Sophie added: ‘He always exchanged words with everybody because it didn’t matter what anybody was doing in and around the estate, here and everywhere else, they all meant a lot to him and he always took a very personal interest in everything that they were doing. So they’ve all got stories to tell and most of them are quite funny as well’.
Separately, Edward added that his mother was ‘bearing up’ and the royal family appreciated ‘the wave of affection’ for the Duke of Edinburgh from the public since his death was announced on Friday.
The Duke of Edinburgh with a young Lady Louise, Princess Eugenie and Sophie Wessex in 2012
The earl said: ‘That wave of affection for him and just those lovely stories. They just mean so much and the tributes have been just fantastic. That’s really, really important and we really do appreciate it.’
Referring to the warm wishes that have poured in from around the world, Sophie said it had been ‘so lovely for so many people to learn about what he did’. She added: ‘I just think quite a lot of things that have come out will have surprised some people and how intrinsic he was to every element of society, if you look at it.’
The couple recalled some of the scrapes Philip got into while carriage driving around the Windsor estate. Smiling, Sophie said Philip had been ‘pulled out of a few ditches here I seem to remember as well’.
