Lady Louise Windsor, 17, and James Viscount Severn, 13, are Queen Elizabeth II’s youngest grandchildren - and she is known to be particularly fond of them. Edward and Sophie Wessex’s family live a short drive away from Windsor Castle at Bagshot Park.

       Her Majesty, 95, sees them as often as possible - and is affectionately referred to as ‘Grandmama’.

       Such is the closeness of the Queen’s relationship with budding artist Louise, she granted the teenage royal access to Queen Victoria’s private collection of Highlands sketches, kept at Balmoral.

       Balmoral Castle is the Aberdeenshire retreat where the Queen on a summer break - and a place the grandchildren enjoy visiting.

       But the family heritage's significance had little bearing on their childhoods until they started school, as Edward, 57, and Sophie, 56, revealed.

       The Countess of Wessex told Sky News: “I mean Louise had no concept really that the Queen and her grandmother were one and the same person.

       “It wasn’t until she was at school that other children were mentioning it and saying, ‘Your gran is the Queen’.

       “And she’d come home and say, ‘Mummy, they say that Grandmama is the Queen.’ And I said, ‘Yes,’ and she said, ‘I don’t understand what they mean.’”

       Prince Edward, the Queen’s youngest child, told of his own experience of coming into the realisation.

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       He said: “I can’t necessarily remember when that realisation was there.

       “When you grow up in that family and in that environment, that’s just what your parents do.

       “It’s been much more interesting watching our children growing up, and watching our children trying to work out what that is, and how that works.

       “It was probably not until five or six I think.”

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       Lady Louise turns 18 in November.

       This is a significant milestone because the young royal can choose to start using the HRH title.

       She is currently 15th in line to the throne - but will drop to 16th when Princess Beatrice, 33, and Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, 38, have their first child in the autumn.

       James Viscount Severn is currently 14th in line - and will drop to 15th when the baby is born.