Princess Beatrice describes daughter’s premature birth as ‘humbling’

Princess Beatrice has described the premature birth of her daughter as “humbling”.

Her daughter Athena Elizabeth Rose was born several weeks premature at London’s Chelsea and Westminster Hospital on 22 January. She weighed 4lb 5oz (2kg).

“Nothing quite prepares you for the moment when you realise your baby is going to arrive early,” the granddaughter of the late Queen Elizabeth II wrote in British Vogue on Sunday, adding, “there’s so little control.”

The 36-year-old, who earlier this month was appointed as the new patron of prematurity charity Borne, said she was now trying to put a spotlight on female health.

News of the princess’s second pregnancy was announced by Buckingham Palace in October last year.

However, routine scans soon revealed their “precious cargo” needed close monitoring, and Beatrice and her husband Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi were told to prepare for an early arrival.

“What I learnt in this process has been humbling,” wrote the princess.

Despite acknowledging how fortunate she was to have access to a “remarkable” medical team, Beatrice revealed the uncertainty she experienced left her with “an overwhelming fear of the unknown”.

She wrote: “Like countless other expectant mums, I lay awake in the weeks leading up to birth, trying to monitor each movement of the baby in my tummy and asking myself a thousand times ‘What if this happens, or what if that happens?'”

Describing how Athena looked when she was born, Beatrice wrote the newborn had been “so tiny it took more than a few weeks for the tears of relief to dry”.

She said: “I’m extremely pleased to let you know Athena is now doing really well, I have a few more answers as to what happened, but still no precise explanation.”

Beatrice expressed her hopes sharing her story would support other mothers going through the same uncertainty and that women’s health “has been left off the agenda”.

“My joys and fears in pregnancy and motherhood are the same as those experienced by millions of other women around the world,” she added.

The princess married her millionaire property tycoon husband in a private ceremony in 2020. The pair also share a three-year-old daughter named Sienna.

Mr Mapelli Mozzi has an eight-year-old son named Wolfie, from a previous relationship.

Princess Beatrice, who is ninth in line to the throne, is the eldest daughter of the Duke of York and Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York.

She has worked with a number of charities, including the Teenage Cancer Trust and co-founding the Big Change, which helps young people to develop life skills, beyond academic subjects.