Prince Louis follows family’s sporting footsteps as he takes up cricket in fourth birthday portraits

His older brother is a dedicated football fan, his mother is devoted to tennis and his father can be found singing lustily from the Welsh rugby terraces.

Prince Louis, it appears, is following in his family’s sporting footsteps as he finds his own love of cricket.

Photographs of the young prince on his fourth birthday show him clutching a cricket ball while playing on the beach.

In a grey jumper decorated with stars, collared shirt and shorts, he can be seen on the sand dunes ready to get back to his game.

A series of four photographs, released to celebrate Prince Louis' birthday, were taken by the Duchess of Cambridge in what has become a royal tradition.

The low-key photoshoot took place on the coast in Norfolk, believed to be Holkham Beach, which is around a 35-minute drive from the Cambridges’ country home of Anmer Hall and known to be a Royal family favourite.

The Duke and Duchess themselves were filmed there for a short clip celebrating their tenth wedding anniversary last year.

This time, Prince Louis takes a starring role, sprinting across the sand and beaming for his mother’s camera.

In two of the images, he holds an orange cricket ball, looking confident and casual.

Following in great-grandmother's footsteps

The hobby could see him follow in the footsteps of his great-grandmother the Queen, who holds numerous patronages of cricket clubs throughout Britain.

Prince William and Prince Harry are both honorary members of the Gloucestershire County Cricket Club, although they have more often been seen playing and watching football and rugby respectively.

The late Duke of Edinburgh was known as a keen and accomplished player, serving two terms as MCC president and as patron of the Lord’s Taverners charity.

In 1975, he wrote in Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack that he was “inordinately proud” to be “so closely associated once again with this most English of games”.

“I enjoy everything about cricket,” he said. “I suppose I must have played the game off and on from the age of eight until about 48, and I am sure I shall go on watching it as long as I can.”

Of the future of the game, which may now include an enthusiastic Prince Louis, Prince Philip noted: “I shall only start to worry if cricket ever ceases to be a topic of heated discussion over drinks in pubs and clubs.”

Releasing the annual birthday pictures, Kensington Palace said: “The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are pleased to share four new photographs of Prince Louis ahead of his fourth birthday.”

They were taken earlier this month, and now join the Duchess’s growing public photograph album of her three children.

The images have become an annual tradition for royal watchers, who enjoy seeing glimpses of the Cambridge children blossoming as they grow up largely out of the public eye.

Prince George’s sixth birthday pictures showed him in an England football shirt, with the Duke often speaking of his young football fan son.

Louis' third birthday photograph saw him riding a balance bike.

The Duchess has recently relayed how her three children play rugby in the garden. They are also known to have taken ballet classes, and have enjoyed tennis practice with none other than Roger Federer.

The Duchess herself is particularly sporty, trying her hand at a variety of games during royal engagements and tours. Last year, she played tennis at Wimbledon with Emma Raducanu and took part in a rugby training session with the England team.