The royal family has a new baby on the way! Princess Beatrice and her husband, Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, announced on October 1 that they are expecting their second child in the spring. Beatrice is the daughter of Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson. She and her sister, Princess Eugenie, are cousins to Prince Harry and Prince William.

Beatrice’s mother, Sarah, had nothing but exciting words to say about her daughter and future grandchild.

Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, Princess Beatrice, and Sarah Ferguson | Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images

Sarah Ferguson is ‘proud’ that Princess Beatrice is her daughter

Beatrice and her husband have been together for about six years. Their families have been friends for ages, but the two only officially began dating in 2018. They dated publicly for less than a year before Edoardo proposed, and Beatrice married her man in 2020 in a private ceremony (the first ceremony was cancelled due to the covid-19 pandemic). Now, four years later, the two have one child together, and Beatrice is also step-mother to a son, Wolfie, who is Edoardo’s from a previous relationship. And Beatrice’s mother couldn’t be happier for her older daughter.

“A very proud GiGi/Mum today,” Sarah wrote in an Instagram caption with a letter to her daughter. “Such an incredible blessing and an embrace to my heart … Wolfie, August, Ernie and Sienna will be over the moon to have the fifth member of the five aside!” That last part refers to Sarah’s grandchildren, two of whom belong to her other daughter and son-in-law, Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank.

Princess Beatrice lives a life largely away from the royal spotlight

Everyone knows who Princess Beatrice is, but she doesn’t have the same royal rules tying her down that her cousins, Prince William and Prince Harry, did while growing up. Harry and William are direct heirs to the throne (though Harry has shifted quite a bit since William started a family), so they always had to follow a strict royal upbringing. Beatrice was never a working royal and has always had more freedom than her cousins.

Beatrice and her sister Eugenie are allowed to have social media. They went to school for their passions and hold full-time jobs that their cousins never did. Plus, there wasn’t nearly as much pomp and circumstance around who they marry. Beatrice is able to still attend plenty of royal events but lives a life on much freer terms. Now, she’s welcoming the couple’s third child to the family, and it seems that they couldn’t be more excited.