Exciting news for Lady Louise Windsor as she returns to university for second year

Lady Louise Windsor is likely celebrating some exciting news ahead of her second year at the University of St Andrews. 

• Prince Edward and Duchess Sophie's daughter, Lady Louise Windsor, is heading into her second year at the University of St Andrews in Scotland. 
• In a thrilling update to the university rankings, St Andrews has achieved the top spot, even nabbing first place ahead of Cambridge and Oxford.
•  In other royal news, Duchess Sophie nailed snake print in a chic co-ord and crisp white blazer - and her necklace provided some inspiring words to live by.

Last year, Lady Louise Windsor, 19, marked her first year as a university student as she began attending the University of St Andrews in Fife, Scotland. 

The prestigious university happens to be where both the Prince and Princess of Wales earned their degrees and is where their love story began, with Prince William studying geography and Princess Catherine studying art history.

The Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh's daughter Lady Louise joined the university as a fresher last September, enrolling on the English course - although her first weeks in uni education were no doubt disrupted by the death of her grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, last year. 

And with Lady Louise, whose home is Bagshot Park in Surrey with parents Edward and Sophie and brother James, the Earl of Wessex, returning to university for year two, a big announcement has been made. 

As if the university wasn't credible and elite enough, with impressive royal alumni and prestigious reputation, it has now secured the number one spot in the 2024 Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide and the Guardian Best Universities 2024 rankings, getting ahead of the iconic Oxford and Cambridge for the first time in 12 years, putting them into second and third place. 

This comes after it was reported that Lady Louise could be facing a slightly stressful decision following her first year, with the decision over where she will be living in second year having to be made. 

It's believed Lady Louise lived in university student halls for her first year but is set to rent private accommodation for her first and second year, presumably having friends as flat mates. 

While attending university as a member of the royal family could create some hurdles, Duchess Sophie previously revealed that her daughter likes to keep certain aspects of her life private and has solid friendships to 'protect' her. 

"We are protective, obviously. She doesn’t really get involved with social media very much at all and that is purely her choice. I wouldn’t deny her going onto it, but she’s not really that interested in it," Sophie told BBC Radio 5 Live back in 2021. 

"There’s a few platforms that she talks to her friends on but that’s basically it, she doesn’t put anything out about herself at all. She’s very private."

Continuing to share her hopes that Louise is equipped to deal with what life throws at her thanks to her family bond and friendships, Sophie added, "She’s got her eyes fairly wide open, but inevitably there will be moments that may not go so well for her, I just hope we can be there to support her through those moments.

"I hope that she and her friends will protect her from anything that somebody might want to do. But I have to let her live her life. It’s not mine to live."