James, Earl of Wessex, was born on December 17, 2007. For most of his 15 years, he's lived out of the spotlight with Prince Edward and Sophie, Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh, and his older sister, Lady Louise. The family lives at Bagshot Park in Surrey, and since it's 11 miles away from Windsor Castle, James and Louise visited their grandmother regularly on the weekends and spent extended holidays together at royal residences in Scotland and Norfolk. 

While Louise is considered to have been the queen's favorite grandchild, due to their shared love of horses, James also had a close bond with Elizabeth. She even indulged her youngest grandchild's passion for motor vehicles. In 2017, the queen remarked, "My grandson is nine and he does nothing else but tries to drive a car — mostly mine," per The Mirror. A year later, the Daily Mail reported that James was spotted behind the wheel of a Land Rover at Windsor Castle. Since it was private land, James was able to drive without a license. However, he did sit on an adult's lap to pilot the car.

Sophie played a key role in fostering her children's bond with the queen. "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," she told The Times in 2020.