The youngest son of Britain's Queen Elizabeth, Edward, Earl of Wessex, became a father for the first time when his wife Sophie gave birth to a baby girl by emergency caesarean section.

Edward, 39, was on an official trip to Mauritius when the baby was born, but flew back and visited his wife in hospital.

"I'm just thrilled to bits," he told reporters outside the state-run Frimley Park Hospital in Surrey, southern England, after seeing his wife.

"I'm obviously very sorry that I wasn't able to be part of it," Edward said, adding he was "shocked and delighted" at the unexpected birth.

Thanking ambulance and hospital staff, he said his 38-year old wife "had a bit of a fraught time" but was recovering well.

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