UK Edition
Longleat heir has son born by surrogacy after medics warned pregnancy could kill Lady Weymouth
Viscountess Weymouth has become the first member of the British aristocracy to have a baby born by surrogacy after doctors warned her she could die in pregnancy.
Lady Weymouth, formerly known as Emma McQuiston, and her husband Ceawlin Thynn, Viscount Weymouth, heir to the Longleat estate, welcomed baby Henry Thynn into the world on December 30 at a private US clinic.
Last night she said: "We are simply ecstatic. His arrival has completed our little family and brought us so much happiness."
The couple, who have a two-year-old son John, used surrogacy after the 30-year-old was diagnosed with a bleed on the brain and a disorder with her pituitary gland during her first pregnancy.
Doctors warned her a second pregnancy could kill her.
The illness left her crippled with pain and meant the baby was delivered by Caesarean section three weeks early in October.
Her husband, 42, told the Mail On Sunday: "Never did I imagine that in West Hollywood I’d become father to John’s little miracle baby brother. It’s a wonder of modern science that the Longleat Bath family has been completed (for now at least) by Emma and I having a much-loved son, helped so crucially by a tremendous surrogate in California, to extend our family."
Henry is named after his great-grandfather, the 6th Marquess, who caused a scandal after the Second World War when he opened the Longleat house and gardens to the public, before later creating the country’s first safari park.
The couple’s 2013 marriage was boycotted by the Viscount’s father, the Marquess of Bath, after the removal of murals from the family seat apparently caused a feud between the pair.
Lord Weymouth took over the running of Longleat House from his father, along with its adventure and safari park in 2010