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Prince Louis' surprising connection to Emma Thompson's husband Greg Wise

Greg Wise plays Lord Louis Mountbatten on The Crown

the crown greg wise
Emmy Griffiths
TV & Film Editor
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Although The Crown season two focused on the early years of the Queen's rule, one-week-old Prince Louis' namesake has already made an appearance in the popular royal show! The little Prince, whose name was announced on Friday, is thought to have been named after Prince Philip's beloved uncle, Lord Louis Mountbatten, Prince Charles' beloved great uncle. The role is played by Emma Thompson's husband, Greg Wise, who has previously appeared in Sense and Sensibility and Johnny English.

the crown greg wise

Greg plays Lord Louis Mounbatten in The Crown

In the show, Lord Mountbatten is keen to have the royal family name changed to 'Mountbatten', and attempts to convince the Queen to make the change from 'Windsor'. He is also known affectionately as 'Dickie'. In season two, he becomes the confidante of a young Prince Charles, who writes to him while unhappy at boarding school. In reality, Louis Mountbatten was tragically killed when an IRA bomb was placed on his boat in Ireland, also killing his 14-year-old grandson Nicholas, his daughter's mother-in-law, Lady Brabourne, and 15-year-old crew member, Paul.

MORE: Viewers spot major historical error in The Crown

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Prince Louis is thought to be named after Prince Philip's uncle

Speaking about his role to Hey U Guys, Greg said: "I think the second season is more exciting because we know the people now… There's a lot of good bits of politics going on and very interestingly we flashback to Philip as a young boy, we see Mountbatten as a father figure to him and then fathering Philip's son because Philip can't really do that while [Prince Charles] is up at Gordonstoun. It was wonderful to do, very touching to come down to the personal." Speaking about being replaced by an older actor in the later series, he added: "Whoever plays me will have fun because by season four he will [die] by the IRA… I think they'll get some wonderful people coming in. Harrison Ford would be good, wouldn't he?"

MORE: Actors who have played members of the royal family