New royal born in emergency c-section
Prince Edward yesterday became a father when his baby daughter was born three weeks premature.
His wife Sophie, 38, had an emergency caesarean operation on Sunday after being rushed to hospital late Saturday night.
Earl of Wessex Prince Edward, 39, was flown home from Mauritius where he was on official business, and expressed regret at missing the birth of his first child.
He said: ‘I’m rather shocked and delighted at the news. I’m obviously very sorry that I wasn’t able to be part of it.
‘I’ve seen Sophie. She’s doing well. She’s obviously had a bit of a fraught time of it, but she’s recovering well, I’m glad to say.’
The Prince thanked the ambulance crew and staff at Frimley Park Hospital, Surrey, for the ‘calm and professional’ way they dealt with the emergency.
The unnamed baby girl, weighing four pounds nine ounces, was taken to a nearby clinic in London for specialist care.
A Buckingham Palace spokesman said that the baby was in a stable condition, and had been moved to the clinic as a ‘precautionary measure’.
The first royal to be born in a NHS hospital, the baby is also eighth in succession to the throne and the Queen’s seventh grandchild.
