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Queen Elizabeth II<\/a> reportedly felt that “it was her duty” to protect the former Prince Andrew<\/a>. The first of her children born during her reign, the 66-year-old was the late Queen and Prince Philip’s third child – a younger brother to the now-King Charles and Princess Anne. The family were later joined by Andrew’s younger brother, Prince Edward<\/a>, in 1964.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Born a decade after his two elder siblings, and four years before Edward, Andrew reportedly held a special place in the late Queen’s heart, with one royal author now sharing that the late royal saw “no gap” between duty as monarch and her role as a mother.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Speaking of the late Queen, Catherine Mayer, author of Divide & Rule, said: “She saw no gap between the monarchy and shielding her son.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n “One thing was her duty as monarch, and one was her duty as a mother – and she felt that those things were fully aligned.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Before his connection to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, Andrew grew up as a boisterous extrovert and later followed in his father’s footsteps when he joined the Royal Navy at the age of 18 in 1978.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The prince’s war hero role appeared to bring an unshakeable sense of pride in the late Queen that never truly faded – despite the scandals that later unfolded.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n