Alice Rose Bates was born in February 1991 to Nick Bates and Elsa Feldmann. Nick and Elsa were due to get married but Elsa went into premature labour and Zoe Tate delivered the baby at Mill Cottage. Elsa struggled to adapt to life as a mother, so on Christmas Eve 1991, she left Nick, taking Alice with her but struggling to cope, she gave Alice to Nick, saying that Alice prevented her from having a social life. Alice shares the same first name as her great-grandmother.