Michael Schumacher becomes a grandfather as daughter shares name of F1 legend's grandchild

Michael Schumacher has become a grandfather for the first time. The icon's daughter Gina-Maria shared a post on social media announcing the birth of her first child, a daughter with husband Iain Bethke who she married last year.

Posting to , she confirmed that their daughter, named Millie, was born at the end of last month. She wrote: "Welcome to the , Millie. Born on March 29, our hearts are fuller than ever. We are beyond blessed to have you in our lives."

It was confirmed last December that . It was a welcome piece of good news for a family which has gone through so much trauma over more than a decade.

Schumacher retired from F1 for the second and final time at the end of the 2012 season after returning to the grid to drive for . But just a year after stepping away from the sport, he suffered life-changing injuries in that tragic skiing accident in the French Alps.

He was airlifted to hospital and placed into a medically induced coma. He later woke up and was allowed to return home several months later, but continues to require round-the-clock care from a team of medical staff and his loving wife Corinna.

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But 2024 was a year which brought plenty of joy for the family and, specifically, the F1 legend's daughter Gina-Maria. last September and, three months later, shared that news that they were expecting.

Gina-Maria is one of Schumacher's two children, the other being who followed in his footsteps to become an F1 driver and spent two years in the sport racing for . One-week-old Millie is the German racing legend's first grandchild.

Schumacher's wife Corinna has been fiercely protective of her husband's privacy ever since the skiing accident in December 2013 which left him with life-changing injuries. Only a small circle of trusted allies have been allowed to see him or to know delicate details of his condition.

As part of that quest for privacy, Schumacher had not appeared in public since his accident more than a decade ago. There was speculation that he was a guest at his daughter's wedding last year but there was never any confirmation of that.

Invited guests were required to leave their phones with security before being allowed entrance into the venue. That way, no-one was able to sneakily take photos or videos of anything inside in 2017 from president Florentino Perez for a reported £27million.

Details of Schumacher's care and condition have been a closely-guarded secret and only a few snippets of information have been made public over the years. The came from respected German F1 reporter Felix Gorner who told broadcaster RTL: "The situation is very sad. "He needs constant care and is completely dependent on his caregivers. And he can no longer express himself verbally."