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He is the little prince with the big personality who always manages to steal the show at royal events. Prince Louis turns eight today and, to mark the occasion, his parents, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, have released an adorable new picture of him.

With his arms folded, tousled longer 'school holiday hair' and all his second teeth in place, this holiday snap reveals the youngest Wales child is growing up fast. Sleeves rolled up in a casual, patriotic blue jumper with red and white trim, (£42 quarter-zip from Boden) he smiles happily for the camera with the sea behind him. Gone is the cheeky baby face of yesteryear as Louis grows into a handsome, confident boy, very much looking more and more like the Middleton side of the family.

But what kind of boy is the fourth in line to the throne, and what lies ahead for him?

Prince Louis of Wales, named Louis Arthur Charles, was born at the £7,000-a-night luxury Lindo Wing of St Mary's Hospital, London, on April 23, 2018. He lived at Kensington Palace and Anmer Hall in Norfolk during his early childhood and made his Trooping the Colour debut in 2019 as a baby.

Over the years, Louis has become a royal fan favourite. Whether he's pulling faces at the Platinum Jubilee Pageant or dancing a merry jig to the band at Trooping the Colour, he always knows how to entertain the crowds. In fact, both his mother, Princess Catherine and sister,Princess Charlotte, are often spotted trying to rein in his mischievous behaviour.

"From the moment he appeared on that Jubilee balcony, Louis was a natural performer, a joker, a gift to every photographer who ever pointed a lens at him," says royal author Robert Jobson, the bestselling writer of The Windsor Legacy. "The faces, the finger wagging, the hand clamped over his mother's mouth when she tried to tell him off [at Queen Elizabeth II's Platinum Jubilee in 2022]. He was a one-boy show, and he knew it."

Which may be down to his place as the younger sibling to Prince George, 12, and Princess Charlotte, 10, reckons parenting expert and family therapist Meri Wallace, author of Birth Order Blues.

"The third-born enters a household with parents who have had years of experience in raising children, and feel more relaxed," she says. "As a result, the third born is often a calmer, more easy-going child. The youngest tends to be smiley and charming and gets a lot of attention for his sunny disposition."

Robert Jobson, author of The Windsor Legacy, agrees, adding that Louis has "never been short of an audience".

"He is not afraid to take the mickey out of his older brother either, mimicking George swishing back his hair, the kind of thing younger brothers have always done and always will," he continues. "It is that irreverence that makes him so watchable."

Dr Charlotte Armitage, a psychologist and family dynamics and child development expert and Author of Generation Zombie, says the fact that Louis is so playful in public is a testament to the way his parents are bringing him up.

"How Louis behaves in the public eye is a testament to the psychological safety of the environment that he was raised in," she says. "It appears that he has been raised by parents who are present and aware of the unique stressors that their children are being exposed to and have tried to protect them as much as possible from the adverse impact that being in the public eye could have. Louis appears to be playful and comfortable with his mother, father and grandparents in public which suggests a sense of safety and comfort with his parents, siblings and the wider family unit."

However, as the third child in the family, comparisons may inevitably be drawn with that other once handsome, cheeky, playful prince, Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, who was his late mother Queen Elizabeth's favourite.

Royal expert Ingrid Seward has previously said of Louis: "He has the perks and privileges of his position - plus the luxuries - without the fuss and responsibility of ever having to be King himself." Just like Andrew then... However Robert Jobson believes that Prince William and Princess Catherine will make sure Louis doesn't grow up into the rather entitled man his great uncle became.

"Some will compare him to Prince Andrew [as a] child," he says. "Both third children, both handsome, both naturals in front of a camera. But that is where it ends. Andrew grew up knowing he had been born to a reigning monarch, the first British sovereign in a hundred years to have a child while sitting on the throne.

"His playground was the corridors of Buckingham Palace. It gave him a sense of entitlement he never shook off. He was quite domineering over his younger brother Edward."

Prince Louis, by contrast, has been afforded a more "normal" upbringing by his parents, with the Middleton family's middle-class influence coming into play.

Jobson adds: "Louis grew up in a four-bedroom house in Windsor in the Great Park. He goes to school, kicks a football in the garden, has a big sister who bosses him about.

"The Queen and Philip had more time for Andrew and Edward than they did for Charles and Anne, the early years of the reign had seen to that. Yet Andrew still lost his way. Time alone was never going to be enough. William and Catherine are different. Hands on, present, very deliberate about the life they are giving their children. They have seen what a troubled royal life looks like from the inside. They won't repeat those mistakes."

Jobson also points out that Louis also has his grandfather, the King, as a guiding force. Who can forget the fidgety youngster being passed down the row at the Platinum Jubilee concert to sit on Charles' knee after his antics became too much for his ever patient mother.

"Louis adores Charles and Charles adores him back," says Jobson. "That bond is real and warm and for a King dealing with illness and a family that has been through the mill, it clearly matters enormously."

As Prince Louis gets older, the media spotlight may become more intense as he is seen at more royal events, which Dr Armitage explains can have a huge impact on a child.

"However, it depends on how this is handled by the parents and the purpose of that spotlight," she adds. "From what I can see, Prince William and Princess Kate appear to be emotionally present parents who are aware of how the public eye and being royal could affect their children."

She also points out that, as the youngest in the family, lucky Louis "has four people older than him in the immediate family unit to parent his behaviour".

As he gets older, the real challenge will, of course, be for Prince Louis to find a purpose. Unlike his elder brother, Prince George, he is not a direct heir to the throne. It is also clear that Princess Charlotte as the next eldest, and the most confident of the Wales children, may well follow in Princess Anne's footsteps and the monarch's younger supportive sister.

"As long as Louis is given the opportunity to find his purpose and value, and is rewarded for this, he should not lack direction," Dr Armitage says. "It seems that Prince William and Princess Catherine are fully aware of the potential ramifications for all their children of growing up as a senior royal, and they seem to be parenting their children differently from how previous royal children were parented.

"This is likely to be in part because of better knowledge, education and understanding on a societal level about healthy parenting behaviours, and also through insight gained from their own lived experience of life in the Royal Family."

In the meantime, Meri Wallace warns that the "youngest child can get lost in the shuffle."

"As a result, the youngest child often clamours for attention, and will try hard to get it anyway they can. They may become a great joker or the entertainer of the family to draw attention to themselves."

She adds that "whether parents are royalty, or not, there's much that they can do to help the youngest child, including spending one-on-one time with him".

That, of course, is just what Prince William did when he helped his youngest son operate a digger. The then five-year-old youngster took part in his first proper royal engagement at the 3rd Upton Scout Hut in Slough. As part of the Big Help Out initiative, he helped renovate the building by digging, filling a wheelbarrow, painting, and operating a digger with his father. For now, though, Louis is mostly at school. He attends the £7,000-a-term Lambrook School in Berkshire with his two elder siblings.

Robert Jobson concludes: "What Louis does with his life remains to be seen. The military route is not what it once was. Edward went a different way. Louis may too. He is eight years old.

"Right now he is just a little boy who makes his mother laugh even when he is driving her mad. Long may that last."