Dame Jacinda Ardern, the former prime minister of New Zealand, has revealed the advice she received from Queen Elizabeth II when she was pregnant while in office. The 45-year-old was just 37 when she became leader of New Zealand, and during her premiership—which included the Covid-19 pandemic before she stepped down in 2023—she became the second democratically elected world leader to give birth.
Encounter with the Monarch
Her position as prime minister meant she occasionally met members of the Royal Family, including Queen Elizabeth II. At the Commonwealth heads of government meeting in London, Ardern, then seven months pregnant, asked the Queen how she managed to be a monarch while dealing with pregnancy and childbirth.
According to Ardern, the Queen responded with a seven-word comment: "Well, you just get on with it." Ardern told the Times: "She said in a rather resolute way, 'Well, you just get on with it.' She was right. What she was saying was there's no big secret to it, you just take every day as it comes. That simple, practical advice was exactly what I needed."
A Shared Experience
Although they came into their roles very differently, both Ardern and Queen Elizabeth II gave birth while holding positions of political importance. Ardern was only the second democratically elected world leader to give birth while in office, while the Queen gave birth to her four children while serving as the UK's sovereign.
Ardern also spoke about being a first-time parent alongside being a leader. She said: "I was a first-time mum while being prime minister. I had this particularly high-profile role, but I didn't feel special or unique. I felt like I was part of this very large club of women trying to make it work."
Previous Reflections
Ardern, who announced her pregnancy in January 2018, has discussed the experience before. In May 2025, she wrote in the Guardian about how surprised she was not to be criticised for having a child. Instead, she received an overflow of positive emotion from New Zealanders, including a baby blanket with 24 squares. She said: "I had braced for the worst. I was a public figure, used to judgment and scrutiny. Now I was pregnant and unwed. I was also new to the job. If people wanted to have a go at me, they had plenty of reason to. But I hadn't considered a fundamental truth: that politicians are humans first, and perhaps the public hadn't lost sight of that."
