Hogwarts heiress Lady Melissa Percy welcomes child lady with billionaire husband Remy Trafelet

The Princess of Wales is content with three children but her friend Lady Melissa Percy now has a magnificent seven.

The Daily Mail’s Diary Editor Richard Eden understands that the Duke of Northumberland’s 37-year-old daughter gave birth last Friday to her second girl.

‘Missy’, as she’s known to chums, also has twin sons with her second husband, Remy Trafelet, an American billionaire 17 years her senior.

‘They have called her Ivy,’ a friend told Mr Eden. ‘She was born in Florida.’

Lady Melissa, who grew up at Alnwick Castle in Northumberland, which doubled as Hogwarts in the Harry Potter films, met the hedge fund tycoon after she divorced Thomas van Straubenzee, Princess Charlotte‘s godfather, in 2016. 

Prince William, 42, and Prince Harry, 40, were among the guests at their wedding three years earlier.

Missy gave birth to her elder daughter, Bluebell, in 2020, and to her twin sons, Percy and Alfred, in 2023. 

She also has three step-children, Remy, Charlotte and Franny, from Trafelet’s first marriage.

Lady Melissa has spoken of her love for the USA, declaring to her father at a young age: ‘Don’t ever expect me to live in England. I much prefer the American way of life.’

The 37-year-old divorced her first husband Thomas after less than three years in 2016, after parting ways the year prior.

Speaking previously about the divorce, Lady Melissa told YOU magazine: ‘I knew it was right but it was a very hard thing to go through.

‘We were together for the whole of my 20s, and I think as a girl you change a lot at that age.’

‘But [the split] kicked me into action – in figuring out what I wanted to do, who I am and what I want out of life.’

Lady Melissa and Remy, a billionaire financier, bonded over their mutual love of the outdoors and country pursuits. 

The pair split their time between their family home in New York, Remy’s property in Georgia, and Melissa’s hometown of Alnwick, Northumberland.

The heiress started dating Remy after her divorce, largely away from the public eye, and moved to New York to be closer to the US-based financier.

In 2019, the couple revealed their engagement and that they were expecting their first child together.

No stranger to British high society, Missy is a close friend of Prince Harry’s ex-girlfriend Chelsy Davy, who she was pictured with in 2018 arriving at Princess Eugenie‘s wedding to Jack Brooksbank.

Prince William was also best man at her first wedding, having been a close friend of her ex-husband’s at school, with Ms Davy one of the then-Lady Percy’s bridesmaids.

Speaking in 2019 to Tatler, the aristocrat explained that her rare appearances are related to her love of staying home.

She said: ‘You know, I never actually liked going out. I was good at it, but I always looked forward to coming back and getting into my pyjamas. 

‘I’m a home person, I love being in the country.’ She smiles at her fiancé. ‘Remy knows I’m in a happy place when he comes back from work and finds me cooking.’

The youngest daughter of the Duke and Duchess of Northumberland, grew up at Alnwick Castle, where the Harry Potter films were shot. 

Speaking to The Times in 2018, Lady Melissa explained how she and her three siblings – Katie, George, and Max – shared a bedroom at Alnwick Castle when they were children.

‘We were too scared to have our own rooms. It was pretty run-down, and there was no central heating,‘ she told the newspaper.

Lady Melissa also revealed how she and Chelsy Davy were ‘inseparable’, after becoming friends when she was dating ex-husband Thomas van Straubenzee and Chelsy was dating Prince Harry.

She explained: ‘Thomas is best friends with Harry and William and I met Chelsy through that. We would all hang out together.

‘Me and Chelsy were the younger two from all the girlfriends because it was Kate and her friends, and we just got on like a house on fire and have been inseparable ever since.’

She wed Thomas in 2013 at glitzy wedding at Alnwick Castle in 2013, which was attended both by Eugenie and her sister Beatrice. 

William and Harry were both ushers, while Chelsy was one of Lady Melissa’s bridesmaids. Harry’s girlfriend at the time, Cressida Bonas, was also a guest.

Earlier this month, Melissa’s friend and Prince Harry’s ex Chelsy Davy announced she had given birth to her second child Chloe last September, while at the same time launching her jewellery collection.

Like her ex-boyfriend and the Duchess of Sussex, Chelsy now has a boy and a girl.

In 2022, Daily Mail’s Richard Eden disclosed that Chelsy had married hotelier Sam Cutmore-Scott and given birth to a boy, Leo.

Her son’s birth was kept so private that his arrival only emerged three months later after he was introduced to their local parish council in Norfolk.

Many of Chelsy’s friends didn’t even know she had become pregnant in lockdown.

Sam is the brother of Jack Cutmore-Scott, 35, the dashing Hollywood actor best known for his role in Christopher Nolan’s Oscar-winning film Tenet and the drama series Deception.

The siblings are close, and Chelsy is believed to have spent time with him in LA since she met her now husband around five years ago.

They were first pictured together on a family holiday to Mauritius over Christmas 2019.

Oxford graduate Cutmore-Scott is managing director at The Harper Hotel in Holt, the family business, and the couple are believed to split their time between a townhouse in Chiswick and the Norfolk coast.

‘They are married,’ a friend told Richard Eden in May 2022, adding: ‘Very few people knew about the wedding.’

Sharing the exciting news about her daughter last year, Chelsy wrote: ‘POV: it’s been three years and two babies since your last new collection, but you’re mega-excited to be back in the game.

‘Introducing the Chloe Collection, named after my baby girl. Hope you love it as much as I do x’