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.”
