Chelsea Clinton has given birth to a daughter named Charlotte, the first grandchild of former US president Bill Clinton and former secretary of state Hillary Clinton.
Ms Clinton and her husband, Marc Mezvinsky, announced the birth of their first child on Twitter this morning, saying they are "full of love, awe and gratitude as we celebrate the birth of our daughter, Charlotte Clinton Mezvinsky".
The news comes as Hillary Clinton deliberates on join the race for the White House in 2016, a decision that could put her on a path to becoming the nation's first female president.
Marc and I are full of love, awe and gratitude as we celebrate the birth of our daughter, Charlotte Clinton Mezvinsky.
— Chelsea Clinton (@ChelseaClinton) September 27, 2014She is the leading Democratic contender to succeed president Barack Obama and has said she expects to make a decision on whether to run around the beginning of 2015.
The baby has been eagerly anticipated - Mrs Clinton has called the prospect of becoming a grandmother her “most exciting title yet”.
She even has picked out the first book she intends to read to her grandchild, the classic Goodnight Moon.
The former secretary of state has said she did not want to make any decisions about another campaign until the baby’s arrival, pointing to her interest in enjoying becoming a grandmother for the first time.
Mr Clinton has been eager to become a grandfather. During an event with former president George W Bush in September, Mr Clinton's mobile phone rang on stage and he joked that only two people had the number "and they are related to me", musing that he hoped he was not becoming "a premature grandfather".
“Every day I get up and I say ‘You have to remember whose child this is. Do not interfere. Be there when you are welcome. Be loving but not judgmental’,” he said to laughs in an interview with CNN at his annual Clinton Global Initiative, only days before the baby’s arrival.
Even Mr Obama got into the act. Addressing the annual Clinton confab, the President quipped that if Chelsea Clinton went into labour during his speech, “she has my motorcade and will be able to navigate traffic”.
Chelsea Clinton (34) announced her pregnancy in April at the end of a forum in New York on female empowerment.
In an interview with Glamour magazine last year she said she and her husband had hoped to make 2014 “the year of the baby”.
“I just hope I will be as good a mom to my child and, hopefully, children as my mom was to me,” she said at the time.
Chelsea Clinton grew up in the public eye as a teenager in the White House, later graduating from Stanford and Columbia universities. She worked in finance in New York and in public health, earning a doctorate from Oxford University while taking on a prominent role as vice chair of her family's foundation. She recently departed NBC News, where she served as a special correspondent.
The new parents, who married in 2010, were friends as teenagers in Washington and both attended Stanford.
Mr Mezvinsky is a hedge fund manager and the son of former member of the US House of Representatives, Majorie Margolies, and Edward Mezvinsky, long-time friends of the Clintons.
Agencies