Britain's Princess Eugenie pregnant with her first child

Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank are expecting their first child (Ian West/PA)

Britain's Princess Eugenie is expecting a baby, Buckingham Palace has announced.

The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh are said to be “delighted” by the news their granddaughter is pregnant.

Eugenie and husband Jack Brooksbank wed at St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, in October 2018.

Eugenie, the daughter of the Duke of York and his ex-wife Sarah, Duchess of York, is due to give birth early next year, the palace said.

Princess Eugenie with husband Jack Brooksbank outside St George’s Chapel on their wedding day (Victoria Jones/PA)

Buckingham Palace said in a short statement: “Her Royal Highness Princess Eugenie and Mr Jack Brooksbank are very pleased to announce that they are expecting a baby in early 2021.

“The Duke of York and Sarah, Duchess of York, Mr and Mrs George Brooksbank, The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh are delighted with the news.”

The baby will be a ninth great-grandchild for the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh, following the arrival of their eighth – the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s son Archie Mountbatten-Windsor.

Eugenie’s parents, Andrew and Sarah, will become grandparents for the first time.

The baby boy or girl will be born 11th in line to the throne.

But although their mother is a princess, their father has no title and so the child will be born down a female line of the royal family – meaning they will be plain Master or Miss Brooksbank.

Queen Elizabeth II speaks with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex outside St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle, following the wedding of Princess Eugenie to Jack Brooksbank. Picture: Aaron Chown/PA Wire

They will not be an HRH nor hold a title, unless the Queen decides to intervene and give Mr Brooksbank – who is European brand manager for Casamigos Tequila co-founded by George Clooney – an earldom or issue a Letters Patent amending the rules.

She could follow her mother’s lead and have her baby at the Portland, where older sister Princess Beatrice was also born and where the Duchess of Sussex had Archie – or she might even opt for the Lindo Wing at St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington like the Duchess of Cambridge.