Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh, once spoke candidly about the health of her daughter, Lady Louise.
Lady Louise, 20, is Prince Edward and Sophie’s eldest child. She has a younger brother, James, Earl of Wessex, who is 15.
Louise was born a month prematurely, weighing only 4lb 9oz, after her mother’s blood pressure dropped dangerously low and she lost nine pints of blood. As a result, Louise was born with esotropia, a condition that causes one or both of the eyes to turn inwards.
Doctors attempted to correct her squint in 2006, however, the operation was unfortunately unsuccessful. Louise then underwent further treatment in 2013, which proved more successful.
Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh on Lady Louise’s health
In an interview with The Times back in 2020, Sophie shared that her daughter’s eye condition is still not completely resolved even now she is grown up.
It’s still not perfect.
“She had a severe squint and had corrective surgery. It’s still not perfect, but none of us are,” she said.
She described the complicated birth as “very scary”, revealing that she remained traumatised by it for a long time. “For the first 10 years after she was born, I found it very hard to go to prem wards.” She said: “It brought the whole thing back, but I’ve learnt to cope.”
Sophie continues to campaign for ending avoidable blindness. It is one of over 70 charitable causes she works for, which range from various health charities to sports foundations to Girlguiding.
Lady Louise now
Louise has just finished her second year studying English at the University of St Andrews.
Sophie has previously spoken about how she and Prince Edward have tried to make their two children’s lives as normal as possible.
“They go to a regular school. They go to friends for sleepovers and parties. At weekends we do lots of dog walking and stay with friends. I guess not everyone’s grandparents live in a castle, but where you are going is not the important part, or who they are. When they are with the Queen, she is their grandmother.”
Sophie also added: “We try to bring them up with the understanding 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 I think it’s highly unlikely.”
Indeed, even now she is 20, Louise continues to go by Lady Louise rather than adopting a HRH title. In August 2022, it was reported that she had been working at a garden centre during her post-A Level summer holidays.
Sophie & Edward: 25 Years Together airs on Channel 5 on July 6 at 9pm.
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