Princess Beatrice joined Good Morning Britain presenter Laura Tobin for a visit to a London hospital to support a charity working to end premature births.
Princess Beatrice brushed off the ongoing scandal surrounding her father Andrew to make her first public charity appearance since he was stripped of his titles. The mum-of-two visited a London hospital yesterday to support an organisation that’s working to end premature births.
Beatrice toured the Borne research laboratories at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, where she gave birth to her youngest child Athena several weeks prematurely in January. It marked the princess’s first public charity appearance in the UK since Andrew was stripped of his prince title and his dukedom and forced out of his Royal Lodge home over his friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
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Borne funds research into how to prevent premature births and why babies are born too soon, and Beatrice described the charity as “incredibly close and personal to me following the early arrival of my second daughter”.
Beatrice welcomed second daughter Athena at the start of the year, weighing 4lb 5oz, and said she was “so tiny it took more than a few weeks for the tears of relief to dry”.
The princess was joined at the event by Good Morning Britain’s weather presenter Laura Tobin, whose own daughter Charlotte arrived three months early in 2017, weighing just 2lb 8oz.
The pair met scientists and clinicians leading Borne’s research, including projects investigating the causes of preterm labour, the role of inflammation in pregnancy, and the development of new treatments to help prevent babies from being born too early.
In a statement released to coincide with the visit, Beatrice, who became patron of Borne shortly after Athena was born, said: “The work that Borne is undertaking is something that is incredibly close and personal to me following the early arrival of my second daughter.
“Today’s visit was not only insightful but has given me so much hope for pregnant mothers in the UK that this topic is being taken incredibly seriously.
“As a patron of Borne, I am so grateful for the scientists and clinicians who took the time today to show me the advances they are making to reduce the risks to expectant mums and babies.”
Tobin, a Borne ambassador, described the tour as a “deeply personal” experience”. “As a parent who’s experienced the uncertainty of premature birth and how worrying it can be, today’s visit was deeply personal,” she said.
“The research happening here gives me real hope for the future, that one day fewer families will have to face what ours did. The dedication of everyone at Borne to finding answers and preventing prematurity is truly inspiring.”
Some 60,000 babies are born prematurely in the UK every year – one in every 13 births – with 15 million babies arriving early around the world, the charity said.
Complications from prematurity remain the leading cause of neonatal death and lifelong disability, but less than two per cent of medical research funding is dedicated to pregnancy and childbirth, it added.
It comes as Beatrice’s father Andrew’s conduct could be debated by MPs for the first time this week, with the Liberal Democrats intending to raise his Royal Lodge rental arrangements, including details about the size of any payout for leaving the property, after the Commons returns from recess on Tuesday.
The King took action by stripping his younger brother of his birthright to be a prince and his dukedom over his “serious lapses of judgment”.
The former prince has for many years been dogged by allegations he sexually abused Virginia Giuffre after she was trafficked by Epstein. Andrew strenuously denies the accusations.
Members of the US Congress have also written to him requesting he sit for a “transcribed interview” in connection with his friendship with Epstein, and asking him to respond by November 20.
Beatrice and her sister Princess Eugenie remain princesses despite their father’s banishment from the royal family and his new status as a commoner.
