Britain’s Lord Nicholas Windsor’s wife is to be the oldest royal mother-to-be.
The 43-year-old royal – who gave up his place in succession to the throne after converting to Catholicism in 2001 – and his spouse Paola, who turns 45 in August, have announced they are expecting their third child together.
Friends have hailed the news as a "miracle" as it came so soon after a sainthood was bestowed on popes John Paul II and John XXIII in a ceremony attended by Pope Francis and his predecessor, Pope Benedict, at the weekend.
One friend told the Daily Mail newspaper: "It is a miracle that Paola is having her child at her age so soon after the ceremony of the four Popes."
Nicholas and Swedish-Croatian Paola – whose full name is Paola Doimi de Lupis de Frankopan – married in 2006 and already have children Albert, six, and Leopold, four, together.
The previous oldest royal mother was the late Princess Alice, the Duchess of Gloucester, who gave birth to her second son, the Duke of Gloucester, at the age of 42.
In a coincidence, it was the duke who represented Queen Elizabeth at the beatification ceremony at the weekend.
Nicholas followed in the footsteps of his mother Katharine, the Duchess of Kent, in converting to Catholicism.
The duchess – who withdrew from royal duties in 2002 – was the first senior royal to convert publicly since the passing of the Act of Settlement in 1701.
Lord Nicholas Windsor’s wife is pregnant
