Christmas is just days away – but for Prince Edward and the Countess of Wessex, the celebrations start early.
The couple, who have been married since 1999, brought forward the festivities at the weekend – for a very special reason.
WATCH: Sophie Wessex's Adorable Comment About Prince Edward During Engagement Photocall
Saturday saw Sophie and Edward's son, James, Viscount Severn, turn 15, with his proud parents no doubt pulling out all the stops to make his birthday memorable.
James is the couple's youngest child; his older sister Lady Louise celebrated her 19th birthday just last month, on 8 November.
© Photo: Getty ImagesJames maintains an incredibly low profile, despite his royal heritage. He attends Eagle House School in Sandhurst with his parents keen to give their children as normal an upbringing as possible.
Sophie has spoken in the past of her desire to shelter her children. "Certainly when they were very young we tried to keep them out of it. Only because for their sakes, to grow up as normally as possible we felt was quite important," she told the BBC.
© Photo: Getty Images"And they’re going to have to go out and get a job and earn a living later on in life - if they’ve had as normal a start in life they possibly can get, then hopefully that will stand them in good stead."
Sophie also revealed that her children didn't realise for a very long time that their grandmother was the Queen. "It happened a little while ago," an amused Sophie admitted.
© Photo: Getty Images"Well for Louise, actually, 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.' I don't think she had grasped that perhaps there was only one Queen."
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