A month after his admission for an infection and then a heart problem, Prince Philip, 99, left the hospital in London on Tuesday and reunited with his wife Elizabeth II, in the midst of a storm for the British monarchy.
The prince returned to Windsor Castle, west London, where he was in confinement with his 94-year-old wife, Buckingham Palace said in a statement.
Their eldest son, Prince Charles, said he was “delighted” that his father left the hospital, during a visit to a vaccination center in the Finsbury Park mosque in London. When asked if he had ever spoken to Philip, the heir to the throne replied, “Oh yes, I have spoken to him several times.”
Prince Philip’s hospitalization came at a time of crisis for the royal family, with the airing on March 7 in the United States of an explosive interview with Prince Harry, the queen’s grandson, and his wife Meghan Markle , almost a year after their effective withdrawal from the monarchy and their exile in California.
The couple denounced the racism of some members of the royal family, while making it clear that it was neither the Queen nor her husband, and Meghan confessed to having thoughts of suicide.
Prince Philip, who will celebrate his hundredth birthday in June, was admitted on February 16 to a private hospital in the British capital, King Edward VII.
He had returned there to continue his convalescence after having undergone “successfully”, in early March, an operation for a pre-existing heart problem in another London establishment, St Bartholomew’s Hospital, with the largest specialized cardiovascular service in Europe.
Hospitalized “as a precaution”
Renowned for his strong character but also for his blunders, the Duke of Edinburgh was hospitalized in February as a “precaution” after feeling ill.
Buckingham Palace had specified a few days later that this hospitalization was due to an infection.
If his transfer for his heart problems had raised fears of a deterioration in his state of health, his relatives had wanted to be reassuring.
Prince Charles had visited him in the hospital.
Prince Philip, born in Corfu on June 10, 1921 with the titles of Prince of Greece and Denmark, in 2009 broke the record for the longevity of the spouses of British monarchs held by Charlotte, wife of George III.
Sent to Scotland to follow his education, he began studying in 1939 in the British army, at the Royal Naval College in Dartmouth (southern England).
At that time he met Princess Elizabeth for the first time. Their union was celebrated on November 20, 1947. They had four children (Charles, Anne, Andrew and Edward).
The Duke of Edinburgh retired in August 2017, having participated in more than 22,000 official public engagements since his wife’s accession to the throne in 1952.
He had already suffered several hospitalizations since 2017, the most recent dating back to December 2019 for “pre-existing health problems”, but never so long.
In January 2019, he was in a spectacular car accident when his Land Rover crashed into another vehicle coming out of a driveway in Sandringham Estate and overturned. Unscathed, he had then given up driving.
Prince Philip and Elizabeth II celebrated their platinum wedding anniversary in November 2017 at Windsor Castle. The bells of Westminster Abbey, where they were married on November 20, 1947, rang for more than three hours on this occasion to pay their respects.
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