Princess Eugenie is pregnant with her second child, and shared a sweet family photograph of her son August kissing her bump to announce the news.
The late Queen’s granddaughter and husband Jack Brooksbank are expecting the new addition to their family – a brother or sister for August – in the summer.
Buckingham Palace said the royal family is “delighted” and that August is “very much” looking forward to becoming a big brother.
The happy news has brought joy to the Windsors in the wake of the late Queen’s death and amid difficult times following the publication of the Duke of Sussex’s controversial tell-all memoir.
In the photograph, taken by Mr Brooksbank, Eugenie, dressed in a woolly hat, beams as August, in a burgundy winter hat, matching trousers and wellies, embraces her and kisses her bump, as they stand next to a fence in a leaf-strewn field.
Eugenie wrote: “We’re so excited to share that there will be a new addition to our family this summer.”
A Buckingham Palace spokesman said: “Princess Eugenie and Mr Jack Brooksbank are pleased to announce they are expecting their second child this summer.
“The family are delighted and August is very much looking forward to being a big brother.”
Eugenie’s mother, Sarah, Duchess of York, shared her excitement, saying she is in “Granny heaven”.
Posting a photo of “Augie” wearing a yellow raincoat and splashing in a puddle, the duchess wrote: “You will be sharing puddles, Augie! Superb news, Granny heaven… So deeply grateful.”
The baby will be born 13th in line to the throne and will be a plain Miss or Master.
He or she will be the first of the Queen’s great-grandchildren to be born since her death, and will arrive in the King’s coronation year.
August Philip Hawke Brooksbank was born at the exclusive Portland Hospital in central London on February 9 2021.
He made an appearance at the Platinum Jubilee pageant celebrations last year wearing a Union flag jumper as Eugenie bounced him up and down on her knee in the royal box.
In an interview at the World Economic Forum in Davos with Reuters IMPACT on Tuesday, Eugenie said her son is “going to be an activist from two years old” and spoke of her own attempts to stop using plastic at home.
Eugenie and Mr Brooksbank married in a glittering ceremony in the gothic surroundings of St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, in front of royal and celebrity guests in October 2018.
The princess, the daughter of the Duke of York and his ex-wife the duchess, is close to her cousin Harry, whose biography caused ructions this month when he laid bare his fraught relationships with the King and the Prince of Wales.
Mr Brooksbank, 36, has worked as a European brand director of Casamigos Tequila, co-founded by actor George Clooney.
He met Eugenie through mutual friends while on a ski trip to Verbier.
Eugenie, 32, is a director at the contemporary art gallery Hauser & Wirth in London.
She is patron of several charities, including the Elephant Family, the Teenage Cancer Trust, the Coronet Theatre and the European School of Osteopathy, and also founded the Anti-Slavery Collective charity.
