Edward visited his wife at Frimley Park Hospital on Monday

The prince, talking after visiting the Countess of Wessex in hospital, said the moment he first saw his first child was "quite difficult to describe".

He said: "Obviously she is very small at the moment but she's cute and cuddly."

"But I would say that because I'm the father."

The Countess of Wessex is recovering at Frimley Park Hospital near her home in Surrey after an emergency Caeserean on Saturday night.

Sophie and her daughter, whose name has not been announced, are both said to be "doing well".

The 4lb 9oz baby was born a month early after the countess became ill and was immediately transferred to a neo-natal unit at St George's Hospital in south London "as a precaution".

The prince, who was abroad at the time of the birth, flew back to visit his wife and new daughter on Sunday night.

I am rather shocked at the moment but delighted, just thrilled to bits Earl of Wessex

Prince Edward missed the birth as he was on an official tour of Mauritius.

He immediately flew home and rushed to Frimley Park Hospital, Surrey, where his wife is still recovering.

'Fraught time'

After spending more than an hour with her, he told reporters: "I am rather shocked at the moment but delighted, just thrilled to bits.

The couple married in 1999

"I have seen Sophie, she is doing well - she has also had a bit of a fraught time of it," he told reporters outside the hospital.

Sophie was "inevitably" upset not to be with her daughter, he added.

"We are hoping one or the other gets well soon enough so they can be together."

Wait for name

The prince then travelled to St George's Hospital in Tooting, south London, where he spent an hour and 15 minutes with his first child and said she was "doing very well, doing very well indeed".

Edward said he was very sorry he had not been able to play a part in the birth, having arrived 13 hours after the operation.

The child is the first of the Queen's grandchildren to be born at an NHS hospital.

Sophie is expected to remain in hospital for another four days, Buckingham Palace said.

The Queen was said to be "pleased to hear that they are doing well", a spokesman added.

The birth follows a traumatic failed pregnancy in December 2001 when Sophie was airlifted to hospital after suffering a potentially life-threatening ectopic pregnancy.