Britain's Sophie, Countess of Wessex, gives birth to son
LONDON (AFP) — Sophie, Countess of Wessex, the wife of Queen Elizabeth II's youngest son Prince Edward, gave birth to a baby boy on Monday, Buckingham Palace said.
The baby weighed 2.8 kilogrammes (six pounds two ounces) and was born safely by caesarean section at 4:20 p.m. (1620 GMT) at the same hospital in Surrey near London which dealt with her emergency first birth.
Sophie, 42, and Edward, 43, whose official title is the Earl of Wessex, were "thrilled, absolutely thrilled" by their new arrival, whose name is yet to be announced, a spokeswoman for the couple said.
The couple, who married in 1999, already have a daughter, four-year-old Lady Louise Windsor.
The baby is Queen Elizabeth II's eighth grandchild, and eighth in line to the throne because as a boy, he jumps ahead of his sister in the list of succession headed by the Queen's oldest son, Prince Charles.
In 2003, Sophie was rushed to the Frimley Park hospital suffering from severe stomach cramps in the eighth month of her pregnancy and her daughter was born by emergency caesarean section.
The Countess remained separated from the baby for six days while she recovered from the operation.
Two years earlier, Sophie had to be airlifted to hospital after suffering a potentially life-threatening ectopic pregnancy.
