Prince Andrew, born on 19 February 1960, was the first child to be born to a reigning monarch for 103 years. With a ten years gap between Andrew and his older sister, the new arrival was to benefit from the Queen's greater experience - both as a mother and a monarch.

She was determined from the outset to protect him from the intense, and intrusive, press interest that had dogged his older brother.

Prince Andrew, rumoured to be the Queen's favourite child, was outgoing, confident, with a talent for practical jokes. He sailed, with comparative ease, through an arduous boarding school education and the Royal Naval College at Dartmouth; his mother could only look on, with great trepidation, when he was engaged in active service in the Falklands War.

Prince Andrew married Sarah Ferguson on 23 July 1986 at Westminster Abbey, a nd became the Duke of York, the traditional title reserved for he sovereign's second son. The couple had two children, Beatrice and Eugenie, but the marriage ended in divorce in 1992.

After a successful military career, Prince Andrew became the UK's Special Trade Representative. Occupying a high profile public duty has brought close, and sometimes critical, scrutiny of his friends and associates. His ex-wife Sarah Ferguson has also caused some embarrassment to the Queen with some ill-judged money-making schemes that aim to exploit her royal connections.

In March 2011, the Queen demonstrated her continuing support of her son when she  summoned Andrew to Windsor Castle and in a private ceremony invested him with the insignia of a Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order, the highest possible honour for "personal service" to the Queen.

A framed photograph of Andrew in his naval uniform is prominently displayed on the Queen's desk in her study at Buckingham Palace.

See portrait of Prince Andrew

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