Prince Andrew missed meeting new granddaughter to remain in hiding at Balmoral

Princess Beatrice gave birth yesterday, but her father Prince Andrew reportedly missed seeing his new grandchild, hiding out at Balmoral instead.

As Sarah Ferguson dashed to see her new granddaughter after Princess Beatrice gave birth to her first child at the weekend, the baby’s granddad Prince Andrew had to send his apologies to avoid lawyers slapping him with a sex-claim writ.

The Duke of York, 61, missed the birth of Beatrice’s little girl – his second grandchild – because he is in hiding 800km away in Scotland, The Sun reports.

US lawyers want to serve papers to the Prince accusing him of “rape in the first degree”.

Yesterday a royal source said: “Andrew has made it quite clear that he wasn’t leaving Balmoral. It would appear the advice to him was to stay in hiding and miss the whole thing.”

Fergie, who has been staying with her former husband at the Queen’s Scottish retreat, made the trip to ­London’s Chelsea and Westminster Hospital to meet her new granddaughter.

Princess Beatrice of York welcomed her first child at the weekend, but her father, Prince Andrew, Duke of York, reportedly stayed in Scotland. Picture: Justin Tallis/AFP

Beatrice, 33, gave birth to the 11th in line to the throne shortly before midnight on Saturday. The baby girl, weighing almost 3kg, is so far unnamed.

But it is thought Andrew will remain at Balmoral for three weeks as legal issues continue. The High Court on Friday gave his $1900-a-day legal team a week to challenge its decision giving itself jurisdiction to serve the papers.

The civil claims were lodged by Virginia Roberts Giuffre last month. She alleges billionaire paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, who died in a jail cell in 2019, trafficked her to have sex with Andrew when she was 17.

Andrew has always vehemently denied the claims.

Beatrice’s property developer husband Edo Mapelli Mozzi, 38, who has a five-year-old son from a previous relationship, was by her side for the birth. The couple married in July last year.

Princess Beatrice welcomed a little girl just before midnight on Saturday. Picture: Karwai Tang/WireImage

The Queen was said to be “delighted” after welcoming her 12th great-grandchild – and the fourth this year.

Beatrice’s sister Eugenie, 31, gave birth to a boy, August Philip Hawke Brooksbank, at the same hospital in February.

It’s a royal baby boom at the moment, with Mike and Zara Tindall ­welcoming their son Lucas in March, while Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s daughter Lilibet Diana was born in June.

This story originally appeared on The Sun and has been reproduced here with permission