Lady Louise Windsor returned to competitive carriage driving on Sunday, 2 August, at the Glebe Estate Carriage Driving Trials in West Sussex — her first event of the season and her first public appearance in the sport since graduating from the University of St Andrews in July 2026. Hello!

The 22-year-old daughter of the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh finished fourth in the Novice Pony class, competing across three disciplines: Dressage, the controlled flatwork phase; Cones, a precision test where drivers weave through narrowly spaced cone gates; and Marathon, the cross-country endurance stage that puts horse, driver and vehicle through a series of timed hazards.

Photographer Kelvin Bruce captured Lady Louise in action at the event, with her boyfriend, Felix da Silva-Clamp, watching from the sidelines. The couple have been pictured together at carriage driving competitions before — most notably at the Sandringham Horse Driving Trials on the Norfolk estate in June 2024, when the then-20-year-old was described as having the support of a university friend. Hello! People magazine later reported that da Silva-Clamp was present at the National Carriage Driving Championships on 30 August 2025, though at that stage the relationship was characterised as rumoured. People

The Glebe Estate event appears to be the first time Hello! has referred to da Silva-Clamp explicitly as Lady Louise's boyfriend rather than a companion or friend.

Sara Howe, owner of the Bradbourne Riding & Training Centre in Sevenoaks, gave her own assessment of the pair: "They're just lovely." Hello!

Carriage driving runs in the family. Lady Louise's grandfather, the late Duke of Edinburgh, was the sport's most prominent royal advocate, competing internationally well into his nineties and helping to draft the rulebook for modern combined driving events. Lady Louise has spoken publicly about learning the sport from him and has been competing since her teens.

A fourth-place finish in a Novice class at the opening event of the season is a solid competitive result. The Novice division sits below Open and Advanced levels, grouping competitors still building experience at national fixtures. With the season now underway, further entries will be a matter of the driving calendar rather than the Court Circular.