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Lady Louise Windsor, 17, has long been rumoured to be the Queen’s favourite granddaughter. The only daughter of Prince Edward and Sophie, Countess of Wessex, Lady Louise and her brother James, Viscount Severn, have stayed largely out of the spotlight and do not currently take part in royal engagements.

Prince Edward is often rumoured to be the Queen’s ‘favourite child’ – and the line continues down to his eldest child Louise.

The Queen and her granddaughter have been said to have a close bond, particularly because Sophie has inherited the monarch’s love of horses.

But the bond began much earlier, before Lady Louise was even born.

When naming their daughter, Sophie and Edward paid tribute to her majesty, calling her Lady Louise Alice Elizabeth Mary Windsor.

It has also been reported that the couple decided to name her Louise after Louise of Hesse-Kassel, her paternal great-great-great-grandmother, as well as Queen Victoria’s daughter Princess Louise. Louise of Hesse-Kassel was Queen of Denmark from 1863 to 1898 by virtue of her marriage to King Christian IX of Denmark.

Mary is a nod to the former Princess Royal Mary, Countess of Harewood and Sophie’s mother, Mary Rhys Jones.

The Earl and Countess also opted out of giving their children Prince and Princess titles, instead going for Lady Louise and James, Viscount Severn.

The pair have been kept out of the royal limelight throughout their childhoods, and are usually only seen at major events such as Royal weddings and Trooping the Colour.

Lady Louise’s mother, the Countess of Wessex, recently gave an interview in which she talked about her children’s relationship with their grandmother.

Telling the Sunday Times about their bond, Sophie said: “I guess not everyone’s grandparents live in a castle, but where you are going is not the important part, or who they are.

“When they are with the Queen, she is their grandmother.”

Lady Louise recently picked up her GCSE results after being homeschooled since March due to the coronavirus crisis.

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Buckingham Palace has said her results are private and will not be made public.

She’s also shared the sweet moment Louise realised who her gran was, telling the BBC: “It happened a little while ago. It was much more of a shock to the system.

“It was only when she was coming home from school and saying, ‘Mummy, people keep on telling me that grandma is the queen,’ and I asked her, ‘Yes, how does that make you feel?’ And she said, ‘I don’t understand.'”

Sophie added: “I don’t think she has grasped that perhaps there was only one queen.”

Louise and James have grown up living close to their grandparents’ home in Windsor Castle, and would often go and visit.

Lady Louise already follows in the monarch’s footsteps – she is a keen horse rider and has competed in horse and carriage driving competitions.

She is currently 13th in the line of succession to the British throne, behind her brother and father.

Her brother James is before her in the line of succession due to the laws of of primogeniture changing after they were born.

Despite being quite high in the line of succession, her parents decided against giving them Prince and Princess titles.

This is generally done to avoid the burden of royal titles, similar to what Prince Harry and Meghan Markle did with their son Archie Harrison Mountbatten Windsor, who is also not a prince.

The couple decided, with the approval of the Queen, that their children would not use HRH titles, and was announced shortly after the birth Lady Louise.

The Wessex family live at Bagshot Park in Surrey, where they have stayed throughout the coronavirus lockdown.

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