Sophie, Countess of Wessex, made her first outing in public since giving birth when she went to church at Sandringham yester-day. She was dressed in a knee-length cream coat, heeled boots and a brown hat.

Sophie, Countess of Wessex, made her first outing in public since giving birth when she went to church at Sandringham yester-day.

She was dressed in a knee-length cream coat, heeled boots and a brown hat. Crowds outside the church said the countess looked lovely and she told them she and the baby were very well.

She joined her husband, Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex, the Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh, the Princess Royal and her husband Vice Admiral Timothy Laurence, and Lady Sarah Chatto and her husband Daniel Chatto in a service broadcast to some 1,000 people who turned up to see the Royal Family visiting church on the Sandringham estate.

After the service, the countess spent some time talking to members of the public and told them she was very well and that Louise, her daughter, very much loved her new brother James, born on December 17 at Frimley Park Hospital in Surrey.

Mavis Hewson, 80, from Hunstanton, said she told her the baby was very good.

Jennie Cook, 34, from Gayton said she was delighted the new baby was in Norfolk. “A new baby at Christmas is wonderful, it makes the family Christmas.

“Sophie looked very beautiful and happy.”

Standing in the cold, and briefly wet, many joined in the hymns and prayers, led by the Bishop of Norwich, the Rt Rev Graham James, who prayed for peace in the Middle East and around the world, especially in Pakistan.

It is thought the larger-than-normal crowds were because many had put off coming on Christmas Day because of the weather.