The Duchess of York gave birth to a 7-pound, 1 1/2-ounce daughter by Caesarean section Friday night, and mother and child are both well, Portland Hospital announced.
It was the second child and second girl for the 30-year-old duchess and her husband Prince Andrew, and is the sixth grandchild of Queen Elizabeth II.The baby, daughter of the queen's second son, is sixth in line to the British throne after her sister, Princess Beatrice of York, who was born Aug. 8, 1988.
Andrew was present at the delivery at 7:58 p.m., the hospital statement said.
The Caesarean section was carried out because the baby was in a breech position, a Buckingham Palace spokesman said. "It was the wrong way round," he said.
The duchess, the former Sarah Ferguson, had spent the last week at Buckingham Palace in London instead of her country home. She arrived at the London hospital nearly four hours earlier in a chauffeur-driven car and entered through a side entrance, avoiding photographers waiting at the front.
Her husband joined her two hours later after driving the 150 miles from Devonport naval dockyard, where he is based as a flight commander on the Royal Navy frigate Campbeltown.
As tradition dictates, a notice was posted on the railings at Buckingham Palace giving news of the birth. It read: "Her Royal Highness the Duchess of York was safely delivered of a daughter at 7:58 p.m. today. Her Royal Highness and her child are well."
No name was announced immediately for the new baby, but she will be known as Her Royal Highness, Princess (baby's name) of York.