Lady Louise Windsor is a member of the royal family, but she and her boyfriend have been described as a "normal" couple, with him sweetly supporting an interest of hers. Felix da Silva-Clamp has been seen at Louise's carriage driving competitions. Sara Howe, a carriage driving trainer who sees Louise out competing, exclusively tells HELLO! that Queen Elizabeth's youngest granddaughter and her "lad" are "just lovely".
"He's always been very supportive, but also leaves her alone to get on with the job," Sara shared.
The trainer, based in Sevenoaks, revealed that Louise and her beau joined in at a party one evening after a busy day at the Glebe. "They join in and they help and they talk. They're just lovely," Sara said. Although "they've got their own privacy," Sara noted that Louise and Felix "certainly aren't put out on a pedestal and that nobody can go anywhere near them. They're totally the opposite from that."
Felix was pictured last August at the Ashfields Carriage and Polo Club with King Charles' 22-year-old niece. An onlooker told HELLO! at the time that Felix was "cheering and clapping from the sidelines". The onlooker also revealed that Felix "did a fist pump as she went through the water" and was "keen to see [Lady Louise] progress in the sport". The pair were described then as being "mindful" of showing overt expressions of love, but people could "tell they're very close".
Louise and her beau are said to have met at the University of St Andrews, the same higher education establishment where her cousin Prince William met his future wife, Catherine Middleton, now the Princess of Wales. In 2024, The Daily Mail reported that Prince Edward's daughter and her boyfriend "struck up a friendship when they were cast in the first student-written play to be performed at the Byre Theatre at St Andrews".
© Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty ImagesIn addition to Felix, Louise's mother, the Duchess of Edinburgh, and occasionally her 18-year-old brother, James, Earl of Wessex, are among those "clapping and cheering" for her at competitions. "Her mother [Sophie] is very supportive, and her brother turns up as well sometimes," Sara told HELLO!, revealing: "Mum, nine times out of ten, she turns up because, again, she's another carriage driver. She's heavily involved.
"She does the showing, we call it Concours d'Elegance. We do the dirty side of it, the cross country and mud flying and everything, and her mother does the elegant side, the showing, looking beautiful in lovely carriages and immaculately turned out, and she does that extremely well and thoroughly enjoys it. So she's still very heavily involved with the carriage driving herself."
© Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty ImagesSara pointed out: "It's a very family thing that they're doing."
Carriage driving certainly runs in the family, as Louise's grandfather Prince Philip was also a competitive carriage driver. Months after his death in 2021, the late Duke of Edinburgh's granddaughter was seen driving his carriage around the grounds of Windsor Castle.
Sara, who used to compete in the same class as Prince Philip and regularly met on the course with him, remarked: "We're very lucky to have another royal in our sport because our sport is very, very small, and we need to make it bigger."
