Premature birth can be incredibly lonely, says Princess Beatrice
Princess Beatrice said a premature birth can be “incredibly lonely”, as she reflected on her own experience for a podcast in the run-up to World Prematurity Day.
Her words are part of a campaign for the premature birth research charity Borne, of which she became a patron a few months after the birth of her daughter several weeks earlier.
“I think a lot of times, especially as moms, we spend our lives, you know, thinking that we have to be perfect to do this,” Beatrice told the podcast.
“And sometimes when you’re faced with that moment when you find out your baby is going to come a little bit early, it can be incredibly lonely.”
News of the princess’s second pregnancy was announced by Buckingham Palace in October last year and she gave birth to her second daughter, Athena Elizabeth Rose, in January.
Beatrice, 37, eldest daughter of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, the former Duke of York and brother of the king, was due to give birth to her daughter in early spring when in December she received medical advice not to travel long distances.
Having changed her travel plans after spending the festive period abroad, she joined the royal family at Sandringham Church on Christmas Day, with doctors reportedly warning her that an early arrival was a possibility.
“Nothing really prepares you for the moment when you realize your baby is coming early,” she wrote in British Vogue in March, adding, “there is so little control.”
At the time of her sponsorship, the princess said she “looked forward to supporting Borne and his groundbreaking research programme”.
Last week, Beatrice visited the charity’s research laboratories at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in London as part of the Every Week Counts campaign.
According to Borne, 15 million babies arrive too early each year, with 60,000 – or 1 in 13 – born prematurely in the UK each year.
The charity says complications linked to prematurity remain the leading cause of neonatal deaths and permanent disability.
The princess said there was a “life-changing sense of relief” knowing that Borne was supporting research and asking important questions.
She added that she hoped her support for the campaign would “bring as many people who have had their own stories to come forward and share them”.
“Then maybe we can learn from each other.”
World Prematurity Day is organized every year by the World Health Organization.
