Young British royal Prince Louis, the five-year-old son of Prince William and Princess Kate, has won over the hearts of many fans and observers of the British Royal Family with his humorous antics during otherwise generally solemn public appearances.
The recent resurfacing of a video from nearly 40 years ago showed that his behavior is nearly identical to that of his father when William was the same age in 1987, the Daily Mail reported.
Members of the British Royal Family were in attendance over the weekend for an event known as Trooping the Colour which was held as an official celebration of King Charles III's birthday.
During that event, while standing on a balcony of Buckingham Palace that overlooked the parade, the young Prince Louis further endeared himself to everyone with his animated behavior that included making funny faces, waving energetically, saluting passing military vehicles and troops, and enthusiastically pointing toward military aircraft conducting flyovers.
Flanked by his much better-behaved older siblings, Prince George and Princess Charlotte, Louis had to be quietly reminded on at least one occasion to tone down his antics with a whisper in his ear from his mother.
The antics of Prince Louis at Trooping the Colour were virtually the same as what had been witnessed a little more than a month earlier during the formal coronation of King Charles III, according to a report from Time magazine in early May.
The young prince reportedly "stole the show" with his exaggerated yawns during the admittedly boring and tedious ceremonies and earned chuckles from many with his animated facial expressions that included broad smiles, side-eye glances at his mother, and attempts to mimic his father's expressions.
He had first garnered attention over his humorous behavior during the late Queen Elizabeth II's Platinum Jubilee birthday celebration in the summer of 2022.
At that time, similar to this past weekend, Prince Louis entertained observers from the balcony of the palace during a parade by overreacting to the noise of a flyover and even attempting to cover his mother's mouth and sticking his tongue out at her while she spoke with other members of the Royal Family.
Interestingly enough, the Daily Mail noted that in the days following the king's coronation, an Instagram account that follows the Royal Family's many children posted a video of a then-five-year-old Prince William from 1987 that, were it not for the obvious difference in video quality, could be mistaken for a recent video of the heir to the throne's youngest son based on their near-identical behavior.
That video, which compared clips of Louis and William on the Buckingham Palace balcony, was the literal embodiment of the phrase "Like father, like son," as it showed a young William doing the exact same things in 1987 as his son has done nearly 40 years later.
That includes making funny faces and sticking his tongue out, making exaggerated hand gestures, saluting passing military vehicles and troops, pointing excitedly toward the sky during a flyover, and even receiving a quiet admonition to behave himself, albeit from his aunt, Princess Anne, who was standing directly behind him and next to his mother, the late Princess Diana.
To be sure, given that Prince Louis is only five-years-old, his somewhat unruly misbehavior during royal events is not a particularly big deal that will earn him trouble with his parents, as it is essentially the standard behavior of any young child compelled to participate in events that even most adults would view as mind-numbingly tedious.
That said, given that his father William, likely as well as older brother George, acted virtually the same way at the same age, and both turned out to be fully capable of behaving themselves during formal events, it seems probable that Louis will eventually grow out of this restless and rambunctious phase and adopt a solemn demeanor in the years to come.
