t’s an exciting time for Princess Beatrice and her husband, Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, who are just months away from welcoming their first child.
Beatrice, who turned 33 on Sunday, has a number of options to consider when it comes to choosing where to give birth to her baby.
Could she opt for the same hospital like her mother, Sarah, Duchess of York and her sister, Princess Eugenie, or will she choose an NHS maternity ward?
Let us take a look at the different hospitals where the royal mum-to-be could decide to have her baby this autumn.
The Portland Hospital
The royal mum-to-be and her younger sister, Princess Eugenie, were both born in the American-owned hospital on Great Portland Street in Westminster in 1988 and 1990 respectively.
Their mother, Sarah, Duchess of York, became the first member of the royal family to give birth in a non-NHS hospital.
The hospital has seen a number of notable births in recent years, with Princess Eugenie giving birth to her son August at the Portland in February 2021.
The Duchess of Sussex welcomed her eldest child, Archie, now two, at the Portland Hospital in May 2019.
Princess Beatrice’s husband Edoardo was also born at the hospital in 1983.
Consultant-led care packages at the Portland Hospital start from £6,760.
Lindo Wing, St Mary’s Hospital, Paddington
Princess Beatrice could choose to follow in the footsteps of Princess Anne, Princess Diana and the Duchess of Cambridge, who all had their children at the private maternity hospital.
Maternity packages for a consultant-led normal delivery at the Lindo Wing start from £6,100 for a one-night stay, which includes accommodation for a partner, as well as complimentary meals and a celebratory afternoon tea.
The hospital is around a 14-minute drive from St James’s Palace in London, where Beatrice has an apartment.
Gloucestershire Royal Hospital
With Beatrice and Edoardo reportedly having bought a £3million property in the Cotswolds to raise their baby, the expectant mother might choose to give birth at the Gloucestershire Royal Hospital.
Notable births at the hospital include Peter and Autumn Phillips‘ daughters, Savannah, and Isla, and Zara and Mike Tindall’s eldest child, Mia.
The birth unit at Gloucestershire Royal Hospital’s women’s centre is designed to encourage active, natural labour in a home-from-home environment.
Facilities include birthing pools, an aromatherapy service and en suite ‘home-from-home birthing rooms.
Stroud Maternity Hospital
Another option for Beatrice located in the Cotswolds is Stroud Maternity Hospital, where her cousin Zara welcomed her second child, Lena, in 2018.
Stroud maternity unit is a small midwife-led centre that helps deliver around 300 babies every year and offers a home-from-home environment for new parents.
The rooms include birthing pools and en suite rooms, with facilities for your birth partner to stay overnight.
Homebirth
Beatrice may decide to give birth to her first child at home, becoming the first royal to do so in recent years since the Queen.
While home births are an option, NHS England has said that during the pandemic “some maternity services may not be able to provide a homebirth service or the option to give birth in a midwifery-led unit”.
