The Queen’s granddaughter, Zara Tindall, and husband Mike Tindall are expecting their second child, a spokeswoman for the couple has said.
The Queen and the royal family are “very pleased” to hear the couple’s news, said a Buckingham Palace spokesman.
The announcement came as equestrian champion Zara and former England rugby player Tindall enjoyed a working holiday in Australia.
A spokeswoman for the couple said: “I can confirm Zara is pregnant with her second child.”
The pregnancy comes just over a year since the couple lost a baby in the days before Christmas 2016, just a few weeks after the Tindalls had announced Zara was expecting.
Zara and Mike Tindall with their daughter Mia Grace (Andrew Matthews/PA)
A Buckingham Palace spokesman said: “The Queen and members of the royal family were very pleased to hear this news.”
The child is believed to be due in the summer.
If the baby is born after the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s third child – expected in April – it will be the Queen’s seventh great grandchild.
The couple already have a daughter, Mia, aged nearly four, who is with her parents in Australia.
Tindall spoke about the couple losing their unborn child in an interview with the Sunday Times last year.
He said: “One thing you do learn is how many other people have had to go through the same.
“The saving grace for us has been Mia, our daughter who is now three. However down we feel she will come running up in our faces.”
For a number of years Zara – a former world eventing champion – has been involved with the Magic Millions horse racing carnival, which is staged on Australia’s Gold Coast and begins this weekend.
The event features thoroughbred sales, racing and polo matches and the Queen’s granddaughter is patron of the event’s Magic Millions Racing Women, an initiative promoting racehorse ownership amongst women.