James Mountbatten-Windsor

**James, Earl of Wessex** (James Alexander Philip Theo Mountbatten-Windsor, born December 17, 2007) is a member of British royal family. He is second and only son of Prince Edward, Duke of Edinburgh and  Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh. He is 15th in Line to British throne.

He has an older sister The Lady Louise Mountbatten-Windsor (b.2003)

## Early Life

James was born on December 17 , 2007 at 16:20pm at the Frimley Park Hospital, Surrey, born by caesarean section. Mountbatten-Windsor were released from hospital on December 20, and the following day his name was announced as James Alexander Philip Theo Mountbatten-Windsor.

He was baptised on April 19, 2008, in the private chapel of Windsor Castle by the the Right Revd David Conner, Dean of Windsor, witnessed by his godparents, Alastair Bruce, Duncan Bullivant, Thomas Hill, Denise Poulton and Jeanye Irwin.

## Education

As of 2020, Lord Severn attended Eagle House School, a coeducational preparatory school near Sandhurst in Berkshire,. He has also trained with St John Ambulance cadets

## Public appearances

In April 2015, James (then styled Viscount Severn) and his sister, Lady Louise, participated in their first overseas engagement by accompanying their parents on a trip to South Africa. In September 2020, he joined his parents to help the Great British Beach Clean at Southsea Beach in Hampshire, in support of the Marine Conservation Society.

Following the memorial service for Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh on 29 March, Viscount Severn then attended the Platinum Jubilee National Service of Thanksgiving and the Platinum Party at the Palace in June 2022.

On 17 September 2022, during the period of official mourning for Queen Elizabeth II, he joined his sister and six cousins to mount a 15-minute vigil around the coffin of the late Queen, as it lay in state at Westminster Hall. On 19 September, Lord Severn joined other family members at the state funeral.

On 6 May 2023, James (now Earl of Wessex) attended the coronation of his uncle King Charles III at Westminster Abbey, together with the rest of the royal family. During the procession from Westminster Abbey to Buckingham Palace, he travelled in one of the horse-drawn coaches with his parents, the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh, and his sister, Lady Louise. The next day they attended the Coronation Concert at Windsor Castle

## Tittles and succession

* December 17, 2007 - March 10, 2023: *Viscount Severn*
* March 10, 2023 - present: *Earl of Wessex*

The title Viscount Severn alludes to the Welsh roots of Sophie's family, which James was accorded at birth, as heir apparent to his father's earldom.

Letters patent issued in 1917 assign a princely status and the style of *Royal Highness* to all male-line grandchildren of a sovereign. When his parents married, Buckingham Palace announced that their children would be styled as the children of an earl, rather than as prince or princess. In 2020, his mother reaffirmed that James and his sister Louise retained the right to their royal titles and styles and could make a choice on whether to use them from the age of 18.

On his father being elevated as Duke of Edinburgh, James became styled by courtesy as Earl of Wessex, now the family's senior subsidiary title. The Dukedom of Edinburgh, being created as a life peerage, will become extinct upon his father's death, but as heir apparent to his father's hereditary peerages: Earl of Wessex, Earl of Forfar, and Viscount Severn, he is in line to succeed to the substantive title of Earl of Wessex, *etc*.