Wills and Kate 2! How Lady Louise's romance is flourishing as St Andrews University plays matchmaker to another budding royal love story

Its dreaming spires and quirky traditions dating backmost 600 years marque it the cleanable backdrop for romance, with 1 successful 10 of its students gathering their aboriginal spouse successful the medieval quads.

Of course, the astir celebrated matrimony to look from the world-renowned University of St Andrews was that of Prince William and Kate Middleton.

It was 14 years agone this play that Wills and Kate officially announced their engagement and present the past instauration is playing matchmaker to different budding royal emotion story.

Lady Louise Mountbatten-Windsor, girl of the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh,  is pursuing the world way of her relative William, who met Catherine portion they were some speechmaking past of creation astatine St Andrews – though helium aboriginal switched to geography.

Lady Louise, who precocious turned 21, is the King’s youngest niece and 16th successful enactment to the throne. She is successful her 3rd twelvemonth of an English Literature grade and is dating 20-year-old chap pupil Felix da Silva-Clamp, who was calved successful London but brought up in, Melbourne, Australia.

She whitethorn person bluish blood, but Lady Louise – her parents Edward and Sophie eschewed the rubric of Princess – is known to beryllium down-to-earth, polite, and superior astir her studies. Like her older cousin, she is considered conscionable different pupil successful the close-knit assemblage astatine St Andrews.

Photographs from a fundraiser for the assemblage play nine showed her dancing and having amusive with friends and taking selfies snuggling up with Felix, who is the lad of a solicitor begetter and a parent who works for the World Health Organisation (WHO).

If their assemblage romance lasts and they necktie the knot – arsenic truthful galore bash astatine St Andrews – they volition travel successful the footsteps of William and Kate. St Andrews, Britain’s 3rd oldest assemblage astatine much than 600 years old, has a agelong contented of its alumni getting hitched to each other.

The assemblage chaplain, Rev Dr Donald MacEwan, has conducted galore marriages betwixt St Andrews graduates astatine the magnificent St Salvator’s Chapel.

‘Couples archer maine the assemblage is simply a beauteous spot to autumn successful love,’ helium said. ‘St Andrews is specified a tiny spot that you support bumping into each other.

‘Relationships look to past agelong aft radical postgraduate and determination away. And it is truthful beautiful, with agelong walks connected the formation and different romanticist settings, that it’s nary wonderment I’ve seen truthful galore marriages successful my 13 years arsenic chaplain.’

Mo Rankin, 42, a nationalist relations officer, has been joined to Rebecca Bond, 41, a potter, for the past 10 years. The mates met astatine St Andrews successful 2005, erstwhile they appeared unneurotic successful a play nine play; Mo was speechmaking International Relations and Rebecca English Literature.

Mo, who lives with Rebecca successful East Yorkshire with their 2 children, said: ‘We’re not the lone ones who got joined retired of our ellipse of friends – 4 oregon 5 couples person ended up together.

‘St Andrews is simply a romanticist spot with tons of historical places, restaurants and bars, beauteous aged buildings and astonishing earthy surroundings.

‘There’s a beauteous formation for agelong walks – it’s atmospheric erstwhile the fog rolls successful from the sea.

‘You get to cognize everybody, and we were similar 1 large family. You extremity up studying and surviving successful the aforesaid spot and sharing experiences and interests.’

Mo believes the narration betwixt William and Kate has enactment St Andrews connected the map.

‘When I was there, it was a spot of a backwater. We saw William astir the spot and successful the pub but thought thing of it. There’s nary uncertainty the royal beingness was a gully and present there’s a batch much wealth astir and it’s much hard to get into St Andrews. However, I had a fantastic acquisition and can’t responsibility the university.’

Tab Bainum, 40, an IT nonrecreational from North Carolina, met his Swedish wife, Annika Östman, 40, who works successful communications, astatine St Andrews wherever helium was studying English and Annika International Relations.

They person 2 children and joined successful 2012 aft getting unneurotic successful 2006 done the assemblage play society. The mates present unrecorded successful Stockholm.

Tab, who returned to Scotland to get joined connected the banks of Loch Ness, said: ‘The full municipality was talking astir Annika aft she appeared successful a revealing costume successful a musical.

‘I was successful the assemblage and thought, “I privation to conscionable this girl.” I yet wore her down and she agreed to spell retired with me.

‘It’s inevitable students autumn for each different successful a municipality with lone 3 streets successful the centre.

‘You tally into radical each the clip and astir of the students ended the nighttime astatine the national arsenic it was unfastened aboriginal than the section pubs.’

There’s nary uncertainty that emotion is successful the aerial of St Andrews, and it surely seems to person blossomed for Lady Louise and Felix, whose enslaved has been increasing stronger implicit the past 2 years.

Felix travelled down to the Sandringham property successful Norfolk to spot Louise vie successful a equine driving contention successful summer, wherever she won a metallic medal, and helium appeared to get connected good with Lady Louise’s parents, smiling arsenic helium chatted with the Duchess of Edinburgh.

The mates look well-suited successful their deficiency of grandeur. Felix works successful an crystal pick parlour successful St Andrews astatine term-time, and successful 2022 Lady Louise had a summertime occupation serving astatine the tills and tending plants for £6.63 an hr astatine a Surrey plot centre earlier opening her grade course.

A person of Lady Louise told The Telegraph: ‘She’s truly grounded, and you wouldn’t cognize she’s a subordinate of the Royal

Family. She works a pupil occupation during the week, successful the canteen, and takes portion successful a batch of pupil theatre productions – she was successful the chorus for a play called Dragon Fever. She was truly good.’

The pupil newspaper, The Saint, reviewed the play, praising Lady Louise’s ‘compelling performance’ successful her relation arsenic a witch.

Felix was besides successful the cast, playing ‘an impressionable and naïve, young squire,’ a relation that won him the Best Scene Stealer award.

As good arsenic their shared emotion of the stage, the mates whitethorn extremity up spending clip unneurotic successful Australia, wherever Felix went to schoolhouse and wherever his mother, who works for the WHO’s intelligence wellness spread enactment programme, lives.

As portion of Lady Louise’s four-year English Literature degree, undergraduates tin survey a semester abroad, and it has been reported that she whitethorn walk her last twelvemonth astatine Macquarie University successful Sydney truthful she tin question with Felix.

Despite being cousins with Princess Beatrice, Princess Eugenie, Prince William and Prince Harry, Louise doesn’t usage an HRH rubric arsenic her father, Prince Edward, wanted to shield her from the pressures of beingness successful the nationalist eye.

When she was young, Louise seemingly had nary thought her beloved grandma was the Queen.

In an interview, her mother, Sophie, said that arsenic a kid Louise had travel location 1 time saying, ‘Mummy, radical support connected telling maine that grandma is the Queen.’

Louise has antecedently expressed an involvement successful pursuing a vocation successful the military; if she does, she volition beryllium the archetypal pistillate royal since Queen Elizabeth II to bash so.

Lady Louise is said to person been adjacent to some her grandparents.

To Prince Philip, she brought a consciousness of idiosyncratic pridefulness arsenic the archetypal royal to officially transportation the surname Mountbatten-Windsor. Philip’s surname, which his children were not allowed to carry, was Mountbatten.

Lady Louise besides shared a emotion of equine carriage driving with the precocious Duke of Edinburgh, who was instrumental successful helping to found the enactment arsenic a athletics successful Britain and represented Britain astatine respective satellite and European championships.

Sophie said: ‘My father-in-law was truly encouraging of Lady Louise. When she not lone said “please tin I person a go” but showed a flair for it (carriage driving), helium was conscionable superb with her.’

Lady Louise has the remainder of the world twelvemonth to bask the bid and quiescent of St Andrews.

There are nary nightclubs successful the municipality and students socialise done meal parties, societal clubs, and nine balls, specified arsenic the Welly Ball and the May Ball.

University traditions assistance students from much than 140 countries find friends and marque connections – world families are made up of older students who ‘adopt’ archetypal twelvemonth students arsenic ‘children’ and mentor them.

At Raisin Weekend, the ‘children’ are entertained by their ‘parents’ and encouraged to play pranks, deterioration fancy dress, and extremity up successful an tremendous shaving foam fight.

The May Dip sees students plunging into the freezing North Sea astatine dawn connected the archetypal of May to bring them bully luck successful their exams. But woe betide immoderate pupil foolish capable to measurement connected a acceptable of initials acceptable into the cobbles extracurricular Sallies Quad.

It is said they volition autumn nether the curse of Patrick Hamilton, a 16th period martyr burnt astatine the stake, and neglect their degree.

Students marque up astir 7,500 of the 22,000-strong colonisation of the picturesque municipality which is known arsenic the Home of Golf. They are peculiarly disposable connected the pier locomotion ever Sunday aft chapel work erstwhile they deterioration their distinctive reddish world gowns down to the extremity of the pier and back.

Places astatine St Andrews, which is ranked archetypal successful the UK successful the 2024 Times Good University Guide, are highly sought after.

But the Scottish Government’s bounds connected tuition fees for home-grown students means it’s uncommon to perceive a section accent among those from English and planetary backgrounds, truthful overmuch truthful that the dearth of Scottish students was joked astir successful an occurrence of the Netflix bid The Crown astir William and Kate’s pupil days.

The cachet of different royal romance volition nary uncertainty adhd to the allure of this prestigious assemblage arsenic students from each implicit the satellite question to hitch shoulders with royalty – oregon astatine the precise slightest find their ain existent love.