The Countess of Wessex has given birth to a baby boy. The child is the eighth grandchild of the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh and becomes ninth in line to the throne.

The young Viscount Severn was born weighing 6lb 2oz, and was delivered by caesarean section at 4.20pm at Frimley Park Hospital near the couple's home in Bagshot, Surrey.

Sophie, 42, and the Prince Edward, the Earl of Wessex, were said to be “absolutely thrilled” with the new arrival.

The couple already have a daughter, four-year-old Lady Louise Windsor. At the time of their marriage, the Earl and Countess gave up their future children's right to the title Royal Highness, which would normally be conferred on the grandchildren of a reigning sovereign.

A team of doctors led by Marcus Setchwell, the royal gynaecologist, monitored the pregnancy extremely closely as the Countess has a history of difficulty.

In 2002, two and a half years after the couple married at St George's Chapel, Windsor, the Countess lost her first child when she suffered an ectopic pregnancy and had to undergo surgery to have the foetus removed from a Fallopian tube.

She became pregnant again the next year and was admitted to Frimley Park Hospital during the her 36th week, complaining of severe internal pains. Doctors found her dangerously ill from blood loss, and performed an emergency Caesarean operation to deliver the first royal child born on the National Health Service.

The premature baby weighed only 4lb 9oz, and spent two weeks in intensive care in a specialist neonatal unit at St George's Hospital, Tooting, Southwest London.

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