Call the midwife for a right royal welcome: Princess Anne sees high-tech new Belfast unit and meets one of Northern Ireland's newest arrivals

That’s because Princess Anne was in Belfast today touring a midwifery school’s high-tech new training facility, seeing the very 21st century ways it boasts of training people to deal with everything from ordinary care to extreme medical emergencies in the course of pregnancy and childbirth.

Among those gathered was little Rosie Breen, who at just six months old became one of the youngest royal-watchers on record when the two were introduced.

Her Royal Highness is the patron of the Royal College of Midwives, spurring her visit to the Intersim unit that forms part of Queen’s University’s school of midwifery.

The tour introduced her to some of the facility’s very modern methods of instructing students, including a live simulation of a patient enduring a medical crisis in which a qualified midwife plays the struggling mother, and a blue-light virtual reality room nicknamed ‘the cave’ that reproduces a variety of intensive care conditions and situations.

After being introduced to a host of staff and students, Princess Anne praised “the innovative work [done] here at Queen’s” and thanked a gathered crowd for “the opportunity to meet so many midwives”.

“It’s very much appreciated,” she said to a round of applause.

For little Rosie’s mum, Lavelle Breen, being introduced to the princess was slightly nerve-wracking, but the tot seemed to take it in her stride.

The pair were there as service users to showcase elements of the school that deal with breast-feeding, and Lavelle says an emergency feed was necessary moments before the VIP arrived.

“Rosie just needed something, right there and then,” the beaming mum told the News Letter. “Thankfully we got through it and she was really engaged with Her Royal Highness.

“It’ll definitely be memorable. It was a fantastic opportunity, we’ll make sure it goes down in the memory books for both Rosie and myself.

“The Princess Royal took time to speak to service users as individuals, it was wonderful. It was fantastic to meet her, and to shine a light on the invaluable care we received throughout the pregnancy and the last six months.”

Qualified midwife Kathryn McBurney came face-to-face with the facility’s visitor in a most unusual manner – she was the live simulation’s pretend victim of a post-partum haemorrhage, acting as a patient undergoing a life-threatening emergency with fake blood on her hospital sheets.

In fact, although she knew she was taking part in a special event, she was surprised to find out just how important today’s guest was.

“When I arrived, I did wonder why all the police were here,” she told the News Letter, adding that thanks to regularly performing the role and the immersive nature of the experience, she was able to get into character.

“We spoke to Her Royal Highness about the advantages of Intersim during the final year of university, which I experienced myself,” said Kathryn. “As a midwife, you’re involved in emergencies straight away; it’s a lot easier, a lot less daunting, if you’ve had these simulated experiences as a student.

“It was lovely that she, as our patron, cares so much about our midwives of the future. She told us she’d never experienced anything like it before.”