Princess Mary lives in constant fear she’s inherited a mysterious genetic timebomb that could rob her of seeing her kids grow up.

And just as worrying for Mary is that a ‘rogue’ family gene – thought to be responsible for the premature deaths of her mother and grandmother – has been passed on to her children.

Fate’s cruel twist
‘She’s haunted by the thought,’ a royal insider reveals. ‘Mary’s gripped by every mum’s worst nightmare. She’s gone through the heartache and pain of losing her mum Henrietta and would hate for her kids, Christian and Isabella, to experience the death of a loved one at an early age.’

Mary’s health fears have been triggered by her staunch support of cardiac research into rogue genes, which medics call ‘silent, slow-ticking timebombs’.

‘My family knows all too well about the dangers of heart disease,’ says Mary, who opened Sydney’s Victor Chang centre for cardiac research last year.

'It’s very close to me and, without support and research, it might one day impact not only on you and me, but our children and generations to come. ‘It’s a silent killer that doesn’t discriminate on age and sex.’

Although she celebrated her 37th birthday with family last week, Mary took time to reflect on her sadness at her mother not being here to share her life as a royal and a mum.

She’s never overcome the loss of her mother, who died in 1997 from heart-related illness at 55. 'It came as a complete shock to all of us, it was something that we could not prepare for,’ the princess recalls. ‘There was no fairness in what happened and the emotions were incredible.’

Mary, seen here as a tot in 1972, has never
overcome the death of her mother.

Pain of loss
‘I experienced every emotion in the most extreme way – sadness, pain, anger, guilt. My mum was so beautiful,’ Mary adds. Her husband Prince Frederik feels Mary’s pain and has done his utmost to reassure her that all will be well as long as she keeps up her regular medical checks.

The ‘Compassionate Princess’, who has adorable Christian, three, and Isabella, nearly two, couldn’t have asked for a better mum. Before her royal wedding, Mary made a pilgrimage to Tasmania to pay homage to Henrietta and her grandma, Elizabeth Melrose, who died from breast cancer in 1958, aged just 42. Mary says the two women were extremely close.

Worried sick
Mary’s fears of developing an hereditary illness is believed to be the reason behind her
and Frederik’s decision to preserve stem cells from their son’s umbilical cord. This was done immediately after Christian’s birth in October 2005, and it’s believed the stem cells are stored securely at Copenhagen University Hospital.

The royal family have never denied they took stem cells from Christian and possibly Isabella, however they refuse to be drawn on the sensitive issue.

With pressure on Mary to have more children, she knows she must be healthy to conceive. 'I was worried sick about the health of my two unborn kids,’ Mary says. ‘Motherhood is beautiful and terrifying at once.’
 

For that reason, Mary will not bow to pressure from anyone to have more kids – especially with her grave concerns about her own long-term health. A source says: ‘Mary will be the only one to decide if and when she has another baby.’ 

Get more entertainment news now