Fans say Kate Middleton is the ‘spitting image’ of Prince Louis in throwback photo

‘That’s literally Prince Louis if he was a girl,’ says fan

Fans are freaking out over the uncanny resemblance between Prince Louis and his mother, Kate Middleton, when she was younger.

The Princess of Wales caused an online frenzy on 18 December after she shared a throwback photo from her childhood. In the Instagram post, Kate shared a picture of herself originally taken in December 1983, when she was an infant nearing two years old. The photo showed a young Kate sitting at the dinner table during Christmastime, donning a little cardigan, a blue and white collared dress, and a colourful beaded necklace. She was sat in front of a cluster of candles burning at the table.

She published the old photograph to create awareness for her Shaping Us campaign - an initiative from the Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood that brings attention to the needs and requirements of children five years old and younger. “Sharing some festive memories this Christmas because #ShapingUs is all about the vital importance of our early years and the role played by those around us in shaping the rest of our lives,” she captioned the post.

While many fans have been pleased by Kate’s work with the new campaign, some internet users were more intrigued by how much Kate looked like her youngest child, five-year-old Louis.

“He definitely looks like the Middleton side,” said one woman on X, formerly known as Twitter. Another fan pointed out: “Wow you can really see where Prince Louis gets those cheeky looks from.”

“Spitting image of Prince Louis,” another X user noted.

“I see Prince Louis in this photo,” one Instagram user wrote under Kate’s post, while someone else admitted: “I didn’t read the caption and thought it was our little Prince Louis.”

“Okay, this is Louis. Louis is Catherine,” a fan remarked, and one more proclaimed: “That’s literally Prince Louis if he was a girl.”

For her Christmas carol concert, which was filmed in early December and will be released on Christmas Eve, Kate honoured the Shaping Us campaign during the service at Westminster Abbey. She encouraged others to follow suit ahead of the televised concert by posting old photos of themselves and their families from the holidays.

“Welcome to our third carol service at Westminster Abbey. Christmas is a time when we come together and celebrate the birth of a newborn baby,” her introduction to this year’s concert read.

“The arrival of every baby is a precious and momentous time, it brings us together to reflect on new beginnings and brings hope for the future,” she continued. “Throughout our earliest interactions, relationships and experiences, with those who love us, even before we are born, we lay the foundations to so much of what that future will depend on.

“But only by valuing and supporting the vital role of the adults in a child’s world can we hope to make a difference.”