Prince Charles has visited his dad in hospital while Harry prepares to travel from the US
Prince Charles is the first member of the royal family to visit the Duke of Edinburgh in hospital, as Prince Harry prepares to make a dash from the US.
Prince Philip’s eldest son has paid his unwell father a visit after his fifth night in a London hospital.
Prince Charles was the first member of the royal family to travel to the 99-year-old Duke of Edinburgh’s bedside over the weekend, making the trip from his home in Gloucestershire to London’s King Edward VII Hospital on Saturday afternoon.
It was previously reported that due to strict COVID-19 restrictions, visitors were banned from the hospital to reduce the risk of virus transmission to already sick patients.
The Queen and other royals would only be allowed inside during “exceptional circumstances”.
According to The Sun, the Prince of Wales emerged looking sombre, with bloodshot eyes as he was driven away after spending half an hour at the hospital.
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Meanwhile, The Sun also reports Prince Harry called the Queen from LA to ask about his grandfather’s health. It comes as the Duke has reportedly quarantined himself in preparation to fly back to the UK by private jet. He is being kept “regularly informed” of Prince Philip’s health, according to The Mirror.
It’s been a tumultuous week for the royal family. The news come as Harry and wife Meghan Markle are set to appear in a tell-all Oprah Winfrey interview next month, in which they will discuss their bombshell move to step down as senior royals, made official over the weekend.
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PRINCE PHILIP’S HOSPITAL VISIT
The palace confirmed last Thursday, Australian time, that Philip would likely spend “several days” in care after “feeling unwell”.
He was said to be in high spirits on arrival, but has been told he needs to stay in bed for “rest and observation” for a longer stay than initially thought.
It is understood the royal doctors ordered him to hospital as a “precautionary measure” after he complained of feeling under the weather.
“His Royal Highness, The Duke of Edinburgh, was admitted to the King Edward VII Hospital in London, on Tuesday evening,” the initial statement said.
“The Duke’s admission is a precautionary measure, on the advice of His Royal Highness’s doctor, after feeling unwell.
“The Duke is expected to remain in hospital for a few days of observation and rest.”
He was reportedly not taken in by ambulance and was able to walk into the hospital.
In December 2019, the Duke similarly spent four nights at the same hospital as a “precautionary measure”, receiving treatment for a “pre-existing condition”.
He was discharged on Christmas Eve and driven to Sandringham, where he spent Christmas with the Queen.
Months earlier in January, the then 97-year-old was behind the wheel of a car involved in a collision close to the Sandringham estate in Norfolk. Two were injured in the crash, yet the Prince escaped unscathed.
In the past, he has received treatment for various health conditions including a blocked coronary artery in 2011, a bladder infection in 2012 and exploratory surgery on his abdomen in June 2013. He also spent two nights in hospital in 2017 just before his retirement, and went on to have a hip operation in 2018.
LAST PUBLIC APPEARANCE
The Queen, 94, and her husband have been isolating at Windsor Castle amid the pandemic, having both received a dose of a coronavirus vaccine in January.
Prince Philip’s last public appearance was a few weeks after he celebrated his 99th birthday in July last year, when he attended a military ceremony at Windsor Castle to transfer a long-held ceremonial role to his daughter-in-law Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall.
He was previously photographed at Windsor Castle alongside Elizabeth, 94, to mark his birthday in June. He also attended his granddaughter Princess Beatrice’s private wedding ceremony on July 20.
PHILIP’S ROYAL LIFE
The Duke – who is due to celebrate his 100th birthday on 10 June – stepped back from royal duties in 2017 after decades standing dutifully by the Queen’s side.
He is currently the longest-serving consort of a reigning British monarch and the oldest ever male member of the British royal family.
Born on the Greek island of Corfu on June 10, 1921 with Greek and Danish royal titles, Prince Philip is the great-great-grandson of Queen Victoria.
The royal had an unsettled upbringing. At 18 months old, his uncle King Constantine of Greece was forced to abdicate the throne and the family – his parents, Prince Andrew of Denmark and Princess Alice of Battenberg, and his four sisters – settled in France.
Prince Philip’s mother, Princess Alice, was eventually committed to a psychiatric institution in Switzerland after suffering a nervous breakdown, where she was treated under Sigmund Freud. She was born deaf but could speak three languages from lip-reading, and served as a military nurse during World War I.
Meanwhile, his father, Prince Andrew, relocated to the south of France and maintained limited contact with the rest of the family.
Philip then attended the MacJannet American School in Paris before being sent to the United Kingdom to study at the Cheam School and live with his maternal grandmother, while all four of his sisters married German aristocrats – some of whom were Nazis.
Philip relocated to a school in Germany during the 1930s, and then moved again to Scotland’s Gordonstoun School, founded by Jewish headmaster Kurt Hahn after the rise of the Nazi party.
After graduating in 1939, he attended the Royal Naval College. In July of that year, he met his third cousin – Princess Elizabeth, his future wife and the future Queen of England.
THE QUEEN & PRINCE PHILIP’S LOVE STORY
Married 73 years, the couple celebrated their platinum wedding anniversary in November 2017. A constant presence at the side of the monarch, Queen Elizabeth has referred to him as her “strength and stay”.
They announced their engagement to the world on July 10, 1947, with Philip abandoning his Greek and Danish royal titles and taking the surname Mountbatten from his mother’s family.
They were married at Westminster Abbey, with the ceremony broadcast throughout the world by radio, on November 20, 1947. Philip then became the Duke of Edinburgh, Earl of Merioneth and Baron Greenwich.
Their first child, Prince Charles, was born in 1948, followed by Princess Anne in 1950, Prince Andrew in 1960 and Prince Edward in 1964.
A FEW OF HIS MOST CONTROVERSIAL MOMENTS
Philip has run into a number of controversies over the years – usually involving comments at public appearances that caused offence to those present.
In a 1986 visit to China, he reportedly told students from Edinburgh University: “If you stay here much long, you’ll all be slitty-eyed.”
Years later in 2002, speaking to Aboriginal elder William Brin in Queensland, he said: “Do you still throw spears at each other?”
That same year while addressing the 14-year-old member of a Bangladeshi youth group, he asked: “So who’s on drugs here? … HE looks as if he’s on drugs.”
And again, in what was a big year for Prince Philip gaffes, he told a young female police officer wearing a bulletproof vest: “You look like a suicide bomber.”
And in 2009, after being told that then-president Barack Obama had just met with the British, Chinese and Russian leaders he said: “Can you tell the difference between them?”
– With AFP
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