Princess Beatrice has spoken of the “incredibly lonely”
experience of premature birth, urging greater awareness and
improved research as she marks World Prematurity Day in her role as
patron of the charity Borne.
The princess, 37, who welcomed her second daughter, Athena
Elizabeth Rose, several weeks early in January, described the
emotional strain of learning her child would arrive ahead of
schedule. Her reflections were shared in a special edition of
The Borne Podcast released this week, part of the
charity’s Every Week Counts campaign.
Beatrice, the elder daughter of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and
Sarah Ferguson, said she had felt the familiar burden placed on new
mothers to present an image of capability and composure. “I think
so often, especially as mums, we spend our lives, you know, feeling
we have to be perfect to do this,” she said.
The sudden shift from expectation to medical uncertainty, she
explained, can be deeply isolating. “And sometimes, when you are
faced with that moment of learning that your baby’s going to come a
bit early, it can be incredibly lonely.”
Her pregnancy had been expected to run into early spring, but in
December she was advised not to undertake long-distance travel. She
abandoned plans to spend Christmas abroad and instead joined the
royal family at Sandringham after doctors warned that an early
delivery was possible. Athena was born several weeks later.
Beatrice previously wrote in British Vogue that
“nothing quite prepares you for the moment when you realise your
baby is going to arrive early,” and added that “there’s so little
control.”
The princess became patron of Borne shortly after Athena’s
birth, describing herself then as “looking forward to supporting
Borne and its programme of ground-breaking research”. Last week,
she visited the organisation’s laboratories at Chelsea and
Westminster Hospital to meet scientists working to understand and
reduce premature birth, which remains the leading cause of neonatal
death and lifelong disability.
According to Borne, around 15 million babies worldwide —
including some 60,000 in the UK, or approximately one in 13 births
— are born prematurely each year. Despite the scale of the issue,
the charity notes that pregnancy and childbirth receive less than 2
per cent of medical research funding.
Beatrice said other mothers had told her about the comfort they
draw from the charity’s work. “And even now, talking to some of the
mums who know about my work with Borne, they feel this sense of,
like, sort of life changing relief that can come with knowing that
there is an organisation there that is supporting the research and
supporting the questions, and asking some of these important
questions.”
She added that she hoped sharing her experiences would embolden
others to speak more openly. “Then maybe we can learn from each
other.”
Her favourite aspect of parenthood, she said, is that it is “like a
secret club of sharing stories”.
Beatrice has also emphasised the importance of improving the
scientific evidence base. “I was really quite shocked to learn that
we really do not have as much data with women’s health, with
pregnant women’s health,” she told the podcast. “So I was really
passionate about high quality data being able to enrich the medical
field.”
