Princess Eugenie is expecting third child with husband Jack Brooksbank

The baby, who will not be HRH, will be born fifteenth in line to the throne, while their great-uncle, the Duke of Edinburgh, will move to sixteenth.

He or she will also be the late Queen Elizabeth II’s fifteenth great-grandchild, and the third to be born since her death in 2022.

The announcement from Buckingham Palace, which posted the news on its social media channel at 10am, will be seen as a show of support for Eugenie despite the issues surrounding her shamed father.

Andrew – the King’s brother – was arrested in February on suspicion of misconduct in public office, amid the scandal surrounding his friendship with vile pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

Eugenie and her sister Beatrice, who has two children, Sienna, four, and Athena, one, stayed away from the traditional royal gathering on Easter Sunday, with Charles’s agreement, amid the furor over their father.