Princess Beatrice reportedly visited a sprawling £3million family home in the Cotswolds not long before announcing she is pregnant with her first child.
The Queen's granddaughter and her husband Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi are "very pleased" to be welcoming a baby in the autumn, Buckingham Palace has announced today.
"The Queen has been informed and both families are delighted with the news," The Palace said.
The news comes after reports that earlier this month the couple visited an Oxfordshire property with a 'party barn' and a swimming pool.
A source told the Daily Mail: "The owner was very excited Bea had been round, though she tried to keep it quiet."
The report claimed Beatrice and Edoardo were keen to put in an offer on the property, which is on the market.
Beatrice, 32, and Mr Mapelli Mozzi wed last July in a secret lockdown wedding attended by the Queen and Philip after their planned ceremony was postponed because of the pandemic.
The baby will be the Queen's 12th great-grandchild following the arrival of the Sussexes' second child in the summer.
Beatrice's younger sister Princess Eugenie, to whom she is incredibly close, welcomed a baby boy, August, in February.
The sisters will be delighted to have their children so close together in age, and to share the experience of being first-time mothers.
Their cousin Zara Tindall welcomed her third child, a son Lucas, in March, while Harry, also their cousin, and Meghan, will welcome a daughter in the next few months.
Beatrice is already stepmother to Mr Mapelli Mozzi's young son Wolfie, from his previous relationship with his ex-fiancee Dara Huang.
Known as Edo, Mr Mapelli Mozzi is a millionaire property tycoon and the son of former Olympic skier Count Alessandro Mapelli Mozzi and Nikki Williams-Ellis.
Beatrice is not a full-time working royal and is vice president of partnerships and strategy at Afiniti, an artificial intelligence software firm.
She has a number of royal patronages including the Forget Me Not Children's Hospice, the Teenage Cancer Trust and the Helen Arkell Dyslexia Centre.
