Pippa Middleton and husband James Matthews have welcomed their second child together.
The Duchess of Cambridge’s younger sister gave birth to a daughter, Grace Elizabeth Jane Matthews at 4.22am this morning. The baby weighed 6lbs 7oz.
‘Mother and baby are doing well,’ a source told Hello! ‘She’s perfect, everyone is overjoyed at such a happy arrival.’
Pippa, 37, and hedgefund billionaire James, 45, who married in 2017 and live in a £17 million home in London, are also parents to two-year-old son Arthur.
Grace’s middle names are a nod to her grandmothers, Carole Elizabeth Middleton and Jane Matthews. Elizabeth might also be a subtle acknowledgement of the family’s royal ties.
Pippa Middleton and husband James Matthews have welcomed their second child together. Pictured, Pippa Middleton on a stroll around London on Friday. Her baby was born today
Pippa, 37, and James, 45, are already parents to two-year-old son Arthur. Pictured, Pippa and Arthur head out on their scooters last week
It comes just two weeks after proud Carole Middleton confirmed her daughter was pregnant for a second time in an interview with Good Housekeeping magazine.
‘I hope to see more of my family than I could last year, including, of course, my new grandchild,’ she revealed.
Pippa was last seen on Friday when she headed out for a stroll in London. She dressed down for the outing in a pair of jeans and khaki jacket that skimmed over her blooming baby bump.
Rumours of Pippa’s pregnancy first swirled shortly before Christmas when Page Six reported the couple were expecting another baby.
A source close to the Middleton family told Page Six in December Kate’s sister was expecting, saying: ‘Pippa and James are thrilled, it’s fantastic news amid a difficult year. The entire family is delighted.’
Pippa has never commented on her pregnancy and prefers to keep a low public profile.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will no doubt be delighted at the arrival of their baby niece, which comes at an exceedingly difficult time for the Royal Family in the wake of the fallout of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s bombshell Oprah interview.
Yesterday the couple shared a heartfelt Mother’s Day post revealing cards made by Prince George, seven, Princess Charlotte, five, and Prince Louis, who is almost two, for their late ‘Granny Diana’.
Pippa Middleton and husband James Matthews at their wedding in May 2017
As well as the Cambridge children, Grace has two cousins on her father’s side of the family: Theodore Frederick Michael, two, and Gigi Margaux Matthews, five months, the children of Made In Chelsea’s Spencer Matthews and his Irish model wife Vogue Williams.
Kate and Pippa’s brother James Middleton, 33, is engaged to Alizee Thevenet.
Pippa and James enjoy a close relationship with both families.
The Middletons enjoy holidays with the Matthews clan at the family’s exclusive Eden Rock St Barts resort, proving just how well they all get on.
Pippa and James also raise their children with the support of their parents, with Carole telling Good Housekeeping that she is a hands-on grandmother.
‘I want to run down the hills, climb the trees, and go through the tunnel at the playground,’ she said. ‘As long as I am able to, that’s what I’ll be doing. I cook with them, I muck around dancing, we go on bike rides.’
Pippa Middleton was last seen in London on Friday (above) days before giving birth
She said she would hope to pass down a love of the countryside and hoped she could help them ‘really see the value of being able to appreciate nature and be active outdoors.’
Describing herself as ‘very family-orientated’, Carole said she has always ‘tried hard to be a listening grandmother and mother-in-law’ to Prince William, 38, and Pippa’s husband James Matthews.
Pippa and James tied the knot in 2017 at St Mark’s Church in Englefield, the estate of former Conservative MP Richard Benyon.
In 2018, Pippa welcomed baby Arthur in the Lindo Wing of St. Mary’s Hospital, the same place where sister Kate gave birth to all three of her children.
The socialite and columnist documented how she stayed active during her first pregnancy for Waitrose Weekend magazine revealing that little Arthur follows in the active family’s footsteps.
Pippa and James are close to both families. Pictured, the couple (front) with Carole and Michael Middleton (left) and James Middleton and his fiancee Alizee at the wedding of Lady Gabriella Windsor and Thomas Kingston at St George’s Chapel, Windsor, in May 2019
‘Now that Arthur is 11 months old and more mobile, I have been trying to come up with different activities to do with him,’ she wrote in September 2019.
‘I needed to find something more than just park walks in the pram. Our local baby gym has been a saving grace.
‘It’s a big space full of fun, soft objects, playmats, stairs, balls, swings, mini trampolines and more to stimulate and physically engage babies and toddlers.’
While Michael Middleton, 71, was born into well-off family, Carole grew up in a council house in Southall, west London.
The pair founded hugely successful business Party Pieces in 1987 from their garden shed.
They moved into their home in Berkshire in 1993, where they raised their three children Kate, Pippa and James.
Due to their thriving business were able to send Pippa and Kate to the prestigious Marlborough College.