The Queen’s granddaughter Lady Louise Windsor has been working several days a week at a garden centre over the summer for around the minimum wage, it has been revealed.

The 18-year-old daughter of Prince Edward and Sophie, Countess of Wessex has been earning £6.63 per hour since finishing her A-levels in June – despite living in a £30million mansion in Bagshot Park, Surrey.

She confirmed her place at the University of St Andrews after receiving her A-level results, Buckingham Palace said yesterday. She will read English at the Scottish institution, where Prince William and Kate Middleton met.

At the garden centre – the location for which has not been disclosed – Lady Louise is said to have been helping out on the tills, greeting customers, pruning and potting plants. 

While the security arrangements for her job have also not been made public, her parents Edward and Sophie are thought to only receive police protection when on official duties and engagements. 

One shopper told The Sun: ‘I knew the cost-of-living crisis was bad, but I didn’t think I’d ever see a grandchild of the Queen working in a garden centre.’

Another customer added: ‘The staff seemed to adore her. It’s not every day you buy your begonias off a royal.’ And a third, who was served by the royal, said: ‘I couldn’t believe it was Lady Louise, I had to look twice. 

‘She is a really modest and sweet young woman who is polite and attentive to customers. She seemed to be loving the job. You’d never imagine the Queen’s granddaughter would take on a role working behind a till.’

Lady Louise Windsor and her brother James, Viscount Severn at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham on August 2

Ingrid Seward, editor of Majesty magazine, said: ‘Isn’t it wonderful the Queen’s granddaughter rolled her sleeves up and got her hands dirty with a summer job before going to university — just like any other normal teenager.’

Lady Louise studied AS-level English, history, politics and drama at her school in Ascot, near the family’s home of Bagshot Park. It is not known which subjects she took at A-level or what grades she achieved.

The schoolgirl was among the thousands of students who were affected when the AS-level exams were cancelled last year.

Tens of thousands of Britain’s students have been battling for a university place through Clearing – after the A-level grades they received were down on the past two years, but remained higher than pre-pandemic levels.

Some 20,360 pupils across England, Wales and Northern Ireland found out yesterday that they were unplaced and therefore eligible for Clearing, based on exam results. 

Lady Louise Windsor is pictured with the Queen at the Royal Windsor Horse Show in May 2011 when she was young

Lady Louise with her mother Sophie, Countess of Wessex at the Guildhall in London in June during the Platinum Jubilee

This total was up by 46 per cent on the 2021 figure of 13,930 – when students were assessed by teachers – but down on the last pre-pandemic figure of 24,260 in 2019.

Lady Louise was among those fortunate enough to secure a place and will join freshers at St Andrews this autumn. 

The teenager enjoys a close relationship with her grandmother the Queen and is taking on an increasingly public role within the Royal Family. 

She played a starring role in Trooping the Colour during the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebration before making her appearance on the Buckingham Palace balcony alongside the Queen.

The 18-year-old recently joined her parents and brother James, Viscount Severn, 14, at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.

Lady Louise follows in the footsteps of Prince William and Kate as she is set to study at St Andrews University (file image)

A keen equestrian, Lady Louise has inherited her love of carriage driving from her late grandfather the Duke of Edinburgh, who personally taught her the sport.

She rides on a competitive basis and will no doubt want to continue with her hobby through university. 

Many students at St Andrews live in halls of residence. William and Kate both lived in St Salvator’s, known as Sallies, where they came to know each other as friends before romance bloomed. 

They both initially enrolled to study History of Art but William later switched to geography.

The couple went public with their relationship shortly before they graduated. 

The Duchess of Cambridge, 40, embraced Lady Louise Windsor, 18, during the Commonwealth Games earlier this month

Kate spoke with Sophie and the rest of the family as she embraced them on arrival at the Men’s 1500m Freestyle Heats

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge returned to the campus last year to mark their tenth wedding anniversary.

Earlier this month, Lady Louise Windsor greeted her cousin-by-marriage Kate Middleton with a double kiss on the cheek at the Commonwealth Games.

Lady Louise wore a white shirt, floral skirt and tan leather handbag as she greeted the Duchess of Cambridge and Prince William at the Sandwell Aquatics Centre in Birmingham, where the games are being held.

Kate, 40, who wore her brunette tresses down and in curls, greeted James, Viscount Severn, 14, Sophie Wessex, 57, Lady Louise Windsor and Prince Edward, 58, as she shuffled into the stands.

The Countess and Earl of Wessex with their children Lady Louise and James at the Commonwealth Games on August 2

James and Lady Louise joined the rest of the family for the Queen’s Jubilee celebrations earlier this year, but have largely grown up away from the limelight. 

When attending the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham on 1 August, Lady Louise was the picture of elegance in a £985 dress she borrowed from her mother.

The royal looked pretty in a pink and blue dress at the event, rewearing a Peter Pilotto gown from her mother’s wardrobe, while James and Sophie showed emotional reactions as they watched the action.