Lady Louise Windsor’s birth was ‘so dramatic’, recalls Queen Elizabeth II’s former press secretary

Queen Elizabeth II’s former press secretary recalled how the terrifying birth of Lady Louise Windsor was “so dramatic” and quite lonely for the Countess of Wessex.

Speaking on the latest episode of A Right Royal Podcast, via Hello!Ailsa Anderson told how she was one of two people who comforted Sophie Wessex, now 58, when she gave birth to her first child at Frimley Park Hospital in Surrey.

The Countess went into labor when she was 36 weeks pregnant on November 8, 2003, while her husband Prince Edward, now 58, was in Mauritius, a 12-hour flight away, for an official visit.

They had contacted him, but there was no way she could return until the next day.

Sophie was admitted to Frimley Park after complaining of severe internal pain. Doctors found her seriously ill from blood loss and performed an emergency delivery.

Ailsa said they were also unable to reach Sophie’s parents at the time, so it was just her, ‘Marcus Setchell, (who was the Queen’s gynecologist), and the courtiers at the hospital at first while the Countess gave birth. to Lady Luisa, now 19.

‘I remember I was sitting at home. We are going to have a dinner. In fact, I got a call from Marcus Setchell, who was the Queen’s gynecologist, who was supervising the delivery,” Ailsa recalled.

He said: “I’m in a police car on the way to Frimley Park hospital. You’d better come over.” So I thought, crikey.

So I hailed a taxi, let my husband do the dishes, which I think was the first time in our marriage, and went to Frimley Park, but the Earl of Wessex was abroad on an official visit.

They were unable to locate their parents. Basically, it was just Marcus, me, and the courtiers at the hospital. It was so dramatic,” Ailsa added.

On November 8, when Sophie arrived at the hospital from her Bagshot Park home, doctors realized she needed an emergency C-section.

She was showing signs of placental abruption, in which the lining of the placenta separates from the uterus.

It can result in colossal blood loss for the mother, while babies can become distressed and stillborn. Sophie’s condition was so advanced that it threatened to kill both her and her baby.

Queen Elizabeth II’s former press secretary recalled how the birth of Lady Louise Windsor (pictured with her mother Sophie in June 2022) was “so dramatic” and quite lonely for the Countess of Wessex.

Marcus Setchell had arrived at the hospital from London at lightning speed and supervised the operation, which was performed by surgeon Sukhpal Singh, gynecologist Anne Deans and midwife Adrienne Price.

By the time the baby girl, who weighed just 4lbs 9oz, was born, she was separated from her mother and rushed to St George’s Hospital in Tooting, London for special care.

Meanwhile, Sophie was just 15 minutes from death, Mail On Sunday reported in 2014. She was losing large amounts of blood and had fallen into a semi-conscious state.

She required a massive blood transfusion before she regained any sort of stability.

For the next 24 hours she was left alone in Frimley. Edward did not return to Britain until the following night. Mother and son were finally reunited at the end of November.