When it comes to motherhood, Princess Beatrice is “fantastic” at it, a friend said — and she’ll get to experience it again with the birth of her second child with husband Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi in early spring. On Oct. 1, Buckingham Palace announced that Princess Beatrice is expecting again, and that the new addition to their family will be “a sibling for Wolfie, aged eight, and Sienna, aged three.” Beatrice’s uncle, King Charles, shared the family’s joy over the news, with the statement from the palace adding that “His Majesty The King has been informed and both families are delighted with the news.” Though this child will be Beatrice and Edo’s second together, the new baby will make them a family of five. When the couple started dating, Edo was already a dad to son Christopher Woolf, nicknamed Wolfie, whom he welcomed in April 2016 with his then-girlfriend Dara Huang, an American architect and designer. After Edo and Dara split in 2018, they established joint custody of Wolfie — and as far back as 2019 a source told PEOPLE, “Beatrice is already showing that she’s a fantastic step-mummy already. They’ve been on family vacations together already. They are really happy. There’s no better person they could have for a step-mummy.” When Beatrice and Edo married in an intimate ceremony in 2020, Wolfie was a page boy for the couple and his father’s best man, and Beatrice became the first member of her generation of the British royal family to step into the role of stepparent. After Beatrice gave birth to Wolfie’s sister Sienna Elizabeth in 2021, Beatrice called him “the best big brother” in a tweet that October. Wolfie made his first royal family Christmas appearance in December 2022, holding hands with both Beatrice and Edo during the family’s annual walk to church at St. Mary Magdalene on Sandringham on Dec. 25. He was also present for Queen Elizabeth’s Platinum Jubilee Pageant in June 2022 and has attended Kate Middleton’s annual Christmas carol concert Together At Christmas at Westminster Abbey alongside Beatrice and Edo. In an interview with Harper’s Bazaar U.K., Wolfie’s mother Dara opened up about her co-parenting relationship with Beatrice, 36, and Edo, 40. “Wolfie has had two sets of parents trying to help him on both sides, and I just think, ‘The more, the merrier,’ ” she said. “I feel lucky to have such positive people around him, who really embrace him — because it didn’t have to be so easy.” She added, “It’s all about your point of view. I don’t understand people who are divorced and then hold their children as collateral; that doesn’t make any sense. It’s about creating a happy home and lifestyle.” Beatrice and Edo are keen to keep their kids’ lives private — they don’t share their faces on social media, for example — but Beatrice did open up about a hobby she shares with her stepson in May 2023: reading! “My stepson, who is now seven, and I eagerly look forward to receiving the books and going through them together,” she said, according to Hello!. She had previously spoken about bonding with Wolfie over books when he was homeschooled during the COVID-19 lockdown. “This year, I had the great honor to become a stepmother and have had the most remarkable time going back over some of my most favorite stories at bedtime,” she told The Evening Standard. “Together, we had such a special time reading through all the entries for Oscars Book Prize 2020.” Beatrice has been open about having dyslexia, and said while pregnant with Sienna in 2021 how she would feel if Wolfie or Sienna were to be diagnosed with the condition, as well. “My husband’s also dyslexic, so we’ll see whether we’re having this conversation ina couple of months’ time with a new baby in the house, but I really see it as a gift,” she told podcaster and writer Giovanna Fletcher for Hello!. “And I think life is a little bit about the moments that make you. It’s the challenges that make you.” Sister Sienna Elizabeth Mapelli Mozzi joined Beatrice, Edo and Wolfie on Sept. 18, 2021, her name reportedly inspired by the red hair that Beatrice and her mother, Sarah Ferguson, share. (Beatrice is the eldest daughter of Ferguson and Prince Andrew.) Sienna’s middle name, Elizabeth, is a tribute to Beatrice’s grandmother, Queen Elizabeth, and Sienna is currently 10th in the line of succession to the throne, right behind her mother Beatrice. Aside from being a member of the British royal family, Sienna is also descended from Italian aristocracy through the lineage of her father, Edo. This makes both Beatrice and Sienna Italian “Contessas” and “Nobile Donna,” or noble women. “Bea has such a good heart and she’s such a kind person, so motherhood came very naturally to her,” celebrity nutritionist Gabriela Peacock told Hello! earlier this year. “She’s a fantastic mum. She’s had Wolfie in her life since she and Edo met and has always been incredible with him. She is extremely nurturing and involved with both kids’ lives. It’s lovely to see my best friend growing into this next stage of her life and to share it with her.” Peacock added, “Sienna is absolutely gorgeous and looks exactly like Bea. She’s really cheeky and has a very good personality.” (Her comments echo Ferguson’s statement that her granddaughter Sienna is a “mini Beatrice.”) “She has a lovely family life, she’s extremely successful in her career and she has a nice social life,” Peacock continued. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen her so happy. She’s got the best husband, and she and Edo are a perfect couple and great team. They are so happy and in love and complement each other so well.” Can’t get enough of PEOPLE’s Royals coverage? Sign up for our free Royals newsletter to get the latest updates on Kate Middleton, Meghan Markle and more! Of adding to their family, when Sienna was born three years ago, Edo wrote “This week, a friend said to me the sweetest saying…that with every child you grow a whole new heart.” And Ferguson, 64, opened up about both Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie becoming mothers in a 2021 open letter to her daughters for Good Housekeeping, writing, “It is an extraordinary feeling when your child becomes a mother.” (Eugenie has two sons with her husband, Jack Brooksbank.) “Suddenly my little girlies have their own little ones…such a feeling to get used to,” she continued. “But if I do cry or tear up as you drive away, it is only because I am so proud of you. It has been just us for 33 years, but now you are creating your own families, and I couldn’t be happier for you both and my magnificent sons-in-law, Jack and Edo.”
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