Why Lady Louise Windsor was 'treasured' by her late grandmother the Queen

The late Queen Elizabeth II had a special bond with many members of her family, but she appeared to be particularly close to one of her grandchildren, Lady Louise Windsor.

As her second youngest grandchild, the late monarch had a soft spot for Louise, the firstborn child of her son Prince Edward and his wife the Duchess of Edinburgh.

"There was always a special bond between the late Queen and Lady Louise, because Louise was her youngest granddaughter," Joe Little, managing editor of Majesty magazine, told HELLO!'s Royal Club.

"There was a bit of an age difference between Louise and her older cousins, and in her early years, she had various health problems.

The very essence of her birth wasn't particularly straightforward; she had a rather fragile start in life, and that would clearly have been a great concern to her grandparents.

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"So, I think she was very much treasured by both the Queen and the late Duke of Edinburgh."

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It would have also helped that Prince Edward and Sophie were on such good terms with the Prince's late parents.

"Louise and her younger brother James would have had the privilege of spending a lot of time with their grandparents in the way that perhaps some of the other cousins didn't, because they didn't live far away, and Edward and Sophie took their children to see the Queen and the Duke on a regular basis.

"So, there would have been a rapport and a familiarity from those early years, which would have meant that their bond was even stronger."

Louise, 20, certainly appears to have been inspired by her late grandparents in her hobbies. Not only is she a talented and capable horse rider, but she is particularly keen on carriage driving, like the late Prince Philip, and regularly takes part in competitions in Windsor.

The University of St Andrews student, who is in her third year reading English, is also said to have "fallen in love" with the Army Cadets, which she does alongside her studies. She is a member of St Andrews' University Officers' Training Corps, which provides paid military training for students.

Louise is following in the footsteps of the late Queen, who joined the Auxiliary Territorial Service in 1945, becoming the first female member of the royal family to join the Armed Services as a full-time active member.

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