Vepres Revision Workshop: Paragraph 1

Here is the first installment of a new series I'm doing here at the Nutshell to keep me on track with my novel, which I'm currently calling Briars and Black Hellebore. For anyone new to this blog, it's a fairy tale-based fantasy story set in a fictional kingdom called Vepres. Long, long ago, I posted some excerpts from an earlier draft. Now I'm rewriting the early chapters and showing how I have rewritten various selections.

You can offer feedback if you'd like, or discuss how your own revisions are similar or different from mine.

Below is an earlier version of my very first paragraph, followed by my latest rewrite.

Old first paragraph:

Long, long ago, a beautiful young queen gave birth to a baby girl. Princess Rosemarie was every bit as beautiful as her mother, and she was said to be the loveliest child ever born in the known world. Queen Hildegard was the first to say it, and to Hildegard, “the known world” consisted of her father’s fiefdom and the court of Vepreskastel, where she had reigned for nearly two years. King Eduard seconded her observation, which made it official. Throughout the land, in villages where none had set eyes on the blessed child, legends of Rosemarie’s transcendent beauty sprang up fully formed, like Venus from the ancient sea foam. Minstrels sang of her hair the color of spun gold, her skin as white as milk, and her cheeks blooming pink as the delicate briar roses that ornamented the stone walls of Vepreskastel. Still, Queen Hildegard was not content.

And the new one:

Long ago and far away, in the sleepy kingdom of Vepres, a young queen gave birth to a baby girl. The child was much like other children born in Vepres, slimy and wrinkled with a head like an overripe aubergine, but within moments she became the most beautiful child ever born in the whole world. Queen Hildegard said it first, warbling through delirious tears, and her words tumbled like so many floating spores, borne on the breath of serving women and men, out of the birth chamber, through the great hall, out of the castle, down the hillside, and deep into the Shining Forest where the king hunted. When the news reached King Eduard’s ears, he repeated it aloud: “The queen has given birth to the most beautiful child in the world,” and it became official. Curiously, by the time King Eduard and his men scaled the mighty hill of Vepreskastel and entered the royal birth chamber, it was not only official but true.

Which first paragraph do you like better, and why? All opinions are welcome!