Princess Eugenie has given birth to a baby boy, Buckingham Palace has announced.

The Queen’s granddaughter Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank welcomed their son, who weighed 8lbs 1oz, on Tuesday February 9 at 8.55am.

In a touching Instagram post the proud parents uploaded a black-and-white image of their hands cradling the tiny fingers and wrist of their new baby.

The image is the first glimpse of the newest member of the royal family, and it received more than 60,000 likes a few minutes after going online.

The royal baby – Eugenie and Mr Brooksbank’s first child – is the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh’s ninth great-grandchild.

The baby arrived at The Portland Hospital, where the Duchess of Sussex had her son Archie.

Buckingham Palace said Mr Brooksbank was at his wife’s side for the birth.

The palace said in a statement: “The Queen, The Duke of Edinburgh, The Duke of York, Sarah, Duchess of York, and Mr and Mrs George Brooksbank have been informed and are delighted with the news.”

It added: “Her Royal Highness and her child are both doing well.”

Eugenie’s thrilled parents, the Duke of York and ex-wife Sarah, Duchess of York, have become grandparents for the first time.

The baby is 11th in line to the throne, and the latest addition to the royal family means the Queen and Philip’s youngest son the Earl of Wessex, who was third in line when he was born in 1964, has moved down to 12th place in the line of succession.

The arrival brings joy for the royal family as the coronavirus pandemic continues its grip on the country and beyond.

The Windsors were apart through most of last year and into 2021, the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Cambridge caught coronavirus, and the Queen, who has now been vaccinated, delivered two rare televised addresses, telling the nation: “We will meet again.”

Mr Brooksbank’s father George also contracted Covid-19 in 2020 and was put on a ventilator for five weeks.

Eugenie, 30, and her husband were warned to “prepare for the worst” but Mr Brooksbank recovered and Eugenie posted a video thanking NHS staff for saving her father-in-law’s life.

After announcing her pregnancy in September, Eugenie shared a photo on Instagram of a pair of baby’s teddy slippers and wrote: “Jack and I are so excited for early 2021…”

The baby is a regular Master Brooksbank even though his mother is a princess.

His father has no title and they have been born down a female line of the royal family, with rules issued by King George V in 1917 limiting royal titles.

They will not be an HRH nor hold a title, unless the Queen decides to intervene and give Mr Brooksbank an earldom or issue a Letters Patent amending the restrictions, which is thought unlikely.

Eugenie and Mr Brooksbank, who is European brand director of Casamigos Tequila, co-founded by the actor George Clooney, wed in a glittering ceremony in the Gothic surroundings of St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, in front of royal and celebrity guests in October 2018.

The princess wore a 1950s-inspired gown by Peter Pilotto and Christopher De Vos, with a low back designed to show her scar from the scoliosis surgery she underwent as a child.

Eugenie’s baby is not the only royal baby due in 2021.

Zara Tindall, the princess’s cousin, is expecting her third child this year.

Royal family tree
(PA Graphics)

Princess Eugenie Victoria Helena of York was born on March 23 1990 at the exclusive Portland Hospital in London.

She is Princess Beatrice’s younger sister and a director at the contemporary art gallery Hauser & Wirth in London.

Her romance with Stowe-educated Mr Brooksbank began after they fell in love at first sight on a ski trip near Verbier in Switzerland.

They dated for around seven years before he proposed.

The princess’s mother Sarah was cast out from the Windsors amid her “toe sucking” scandal in the 1990s, but has remained close to her ex-husband.

Andrew stepped down from royal duties in 2019 following a disastrous Newsnight interview about his friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.