Bea welcomes her Beta Baby
Athena Elizabeth Rose is the first of a new royal generation
There was joyful news on Wednesday, when it was announced the newest member of the Royal Family had arrived. Princess Beatrice gave birth to daughter Athena on January 22 – several weeks premature, it emerged – and her overjoyed family shared the news on Instagram, this week.
“Her Royal Highness Princess Beatrice and Mr Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi are delighted to announce the safe arrival of their daughter, Athena Elizabeth Rose Mapelli Mozzi, born on Wednesday 22nd January at 12.57pm”, the Palace posted on Instagram, alongside a picture of Athena, in a pink blanket.
Athena was born, “weighing 4 pounds and 5 ounces,” it read, at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital. “The King and Queen, and other members of The Royal Family have all been informed and are delighted with the news. Her Royal Highness and her daughter are healthy and doing well, and the family are enjoying spending time together with Athena’s older siblings, Wolfie and Sienna.”
This was swiftly followed by a post from proud dad Edoardo, who wrote, “We welcomed Baby Athena into our lives last week. She is tiny and absolutely perfect. We are all (including Wolfie and Sienna) already completely besotted with her. Our hearts are overflowing with love for you, baby Athena. A massive thank you from my wife and I goes out to all the wonderful staff at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital for the exceptional care and support during this incredibly special time,” he said.
Next came happy grandmother Sarah Ferguson, who posted on her Instagram page, “Overflowing with love and joy to be able to welcome Athena Elizabeth Rose into the world. She is already so adored and I’m incredibly blessed to be a Granny once again. So proud of Edo, Beatrice and the rest of my little 5-aside team,” she said.
Athena is sister to Sienna, three, and Wolfie, eight, and cousin to Princess Eugenie’s sons August, three, and Ernest, one, as well as second cousin to Princes George, 11, and Louis, six, and Princess Charlotte, nine, plus Archie, five, and Lilibet, three.
While Athena is 11th in line to the throne, she’s the first Gen Beta baby for the Royals. Her cousins are Gen Alpha, which applies to those born between 2010 and 2024. Gen Beta starts from 2025 and according to social demographer Mark McCrindle, who coined the terms Gen Alpha and Beta, will run to 2039.
Kerry wrote a piece for The Independent on what this means for Athena – read the full piece here. She spoke to futurist Lucie Greene, who explained Gen Beta will be the AI generation, “where entertainment, music, and imagery will be anticipatory and personalised, and tasks will be automated, leaving them to be creative.” They will also be more globally-minded and – if their Millennial and Gen Z parents continue to feel the economic crunch – more critical of “inter-generational wealth” and “greed-flation.” We can only wait and see!
Kate’s caring new role
On Thursday, the Princess of Wales announced her new role as patron of Tŷ Hafan Children’s Hospice and visited the facility in Sully, South Wales, which offers support and end of life care for children and families with life-limiting conditions.
“We are deeply honoured that Her Royal Highness The Princess of Wales has become Patron of Tŷ Hafan,” said CEO Irfon Rees. “Her Royal Highness will be an inspiration for children with life-shortening conditions and their families, our dedicated staff and volunteers and everyone who so generously supports us. No parent ever imagines that their child’s life will be short. We can’t stop this happening, but together we can make sure that no one lives their child’s short life alone.”
To donate, visit tyhafan.org
Charles’ new documentary with Amazon
Filming has already started on a ‘landmark programme’ by The King’s Foundation charity focusing on Charles’s ‘philosophy of harmony’. Expect to see projects inspired by his 2010 book, Harmony: A New Way of Looking at Our World, which called for a revolution in humanity’s attitude towards nature. The one-off documentary with Amazon will showcase the work the book and foundation have inspired around the world to build sustainable communities and transform lives. The programme will be released later this year.
Dame Joan to play Wallis in new biopic
Meanwhile, acting royalty Dame Joan Collins announced this week that she is playing Wallis Simpson in a new biopic focusing on the American’s final years. The film, currently titled The Bitter End, will depict the last years of the Duchess of Windsor’s life - she died in Paris in 1986, aged 89.
Joan, who is 91, said: “I am thrilled about the challenge of playing this iconic woman in a previously untold story… You see her first of all when she’s full of pep and she’s got her young acolytes around her, then bit by bit she is destroyed by circumstances. It’s a very good script and it’s a great part for me. I’ve always been fascinated by Wallis, because I think she was unfairly treated.”
Listen to the amazing story of Princess Alice
William and Catherine took part in a Holocaust Memorial Day service that had a very personal angle. The prince read from a book called Heroes of the Holocaust that singled out his great-grandmother Princess Alice of Battenberg, (Prince Philip’s mother) for courageously saving a Jewish family during the Nazi occupation of Greece.
From September 1943 to October 1944, Rachel Cohen and two of her children, Tilde and Michael, were protected by Alice in her Athens home. As the great-granddaughter of Queen Victoria, her journey to heroism took her from great privilege to poverty and sacrifice, through tragedies and bouts of mental illness.
Find out more about Alice by listening to our podcast Secrets of the Royals, one of our most popular episodes is the sad tale of Prince Philip’s female relatives. Maria researched so many stories in this episode, we had to leave quite a lot out and may revisit some of them in later series. Do give it a listen or watch, here on Substack, on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube.