Prince Philip in hospital “Only a precautionary measure”

LONDON – Prince Philip is in the hospital. According to early information from Buckingham Palace, Queen Elizabeth’s ninety-one-year-old wife was admitted to the Aberdeen Royal Infirmary in Scotland as a “precautionary measure” for a new urinary tract infection.

He would have felt ill while on vacation with the Queen in the summer residence in Balmoral Castle. Monday and Tuesday, he had instead spent them on the Isle of Wight to watch a regatta. According to journalist Peter Hunt of the BBC, he would not be in critical condition.

“The Duke of Edinburgh suffers from a recurrence of the bladder infection he had had this summer and was hospitalized for examination and treatment. His royal height will have to remain hospitalized for a few days,” Buckingham Palace spokesman said.

It is not the first time that the Duke of Edinburgh has suffered an illness this year: two months ago he had been admitted five days for another urinary infection, on the penultimate day of the Queen’s Jubilee.

Shortly before Christmas, last year, the Prince had instead been taken to the hospital for chest pains and on that occasion, he had successfully undergone an operation to install a coronary stent. According to Prince Harry, his grandson, his grandfather would have drawn from this operation “new lifeblood”.

However, it is probable that in the following months the numerous ceremonies and institutional commitments envisaged for the Crown, from the Jubilee to the Olympic celebrations, weakened it. In fact, the Prince attended the opening ceremony of the Olympics on July 27th and followed his wife also in subsequent participations in the Olympic Park.

(15 August 2012)