The Queen meeting Claire Morris who gave birth at 2.46 am to Charlotte with her partner Steve Tibbett at the Rosie Birth Centre in the Rosie Maternity Hospital in Cambridge. Photo: The Times/PAThe Queen picked up some tips to pass on to the pregnant Duchess of Cambridge during a visit to a maternity hospital, a mother joked.
A small pool used by Claire Morris, 42, to give birth to her first child in the early hours of yesterday left the Queen intrigued.
The new mother and her partner Stephen Tibbett, 44, proudly showed off their daughter, Charlotte Rose Tibbett Morris, when the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh toured a new £30 million extension to Cambridge’s Rosie Maternity Hospital.
Their baby had been crying seconds before the Queen arrived but as she walked into the room the infant fell silent.
Morris went into labour at midnight and explained to the Queen she finally gave birth at 2.46am to a daughter weighing 3.7 kilos.
After speaking to the monarch she explained the benefits of the warmed water in the birth pool, saying “the heat is a bit relaxing and gives pain relief and water means you’re less weighted”.
The mother, a garden designer from the village of Impington near Cambridge, joked: “The Queen was interested in the birthing pool, maybe she’s doing some research for Kate – who knows.”
The Duchess, who is around seven months pregnant, is due to give birth in mid-July and there is speculation she will have her baby in the private Lindo maternity wing of St Mary’s hospital in London.
Morris added: “This has been a pretty amazing, magical day. About five years ago I was told the chances of me falling pregnant naturally were pretty remote.”
The royal couple toured the new extension to the maternity hospital, which has been designed around the needs of expectant mothers and those who have just given birth.