Princess Eugenie announced she is pregnant with her second child on Tuesday, using a sweet family photograph of her son August kissing her bump to share her news.
The late Queen Elizabeth II’s granddaughter and her husband Jack Brooksbank are expecting the new addition to their family — a brother or sister for August — in the summer.
The royal family are “delighted” and August is “very much” looking forward to becoming a big brother, said Buckingham Palace.
The news has brought some joy to the Windsors after the queen’s death and the difficult times following the publication of the Duke of Sussex’s controversial tell-all memoir.
In the photograph taken by Mr Brooksbank, Princess 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.
“We’re so excited to share that there will be a new addition to our family this summer,” wrote Princess Eugenie.
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Princess Eugenie’s mother, Sarah, Duchess of York, shared her excitement, saying she was 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 13th in line to the throne.
He or she will be the first of the queen’s great-grandchildren to be born since her death, and will arrive in King Charles III’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 Princess Eugenie bounced him up and down on her knee in the royal box.
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In an interview at the World Economic Forum in Davos with Reuters Impact on Tuesday, Princess Eugenie said her son was “going to be an activist from two years old” and spoke of her own attempts to stop using plastic at home.
Princess 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 Prince Harry, whose biography caused ructions this month when he revealed his fraught relationships with the king and his brother the Prince of Wales.
Mr Brooksbank, 36, has worked as a European brand director of Casamigos Tequila, cofounded by actor George Clooney.
He met Princess Eugenie through mutual friends while on a ski trip to Verbier.
Princess 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.
