Prince Philip, the husband of British Queen Elizabeth II, was seen leaving hospital on Tuesday after being treated for an infection and undergoing a heart procedure.
Philip, 99, was first admitted to a London hospital on 16 February. He was there 28 nights, his longest stay in the hospital ever. On March 4, Buckingham Palace announced that he had undergone a successful medical procedure for a heart condition after being transferred to another hospital days earlier.
His time in hospital coincided with a turbulent period for the royals. Prince Harry, Philip’s grandson, spoke with his wife Meghan about their reasons for retiring from their roles as senior royals and their reasons for leaving the UK in a much-discussed interview with media mogul Oprah Winfrey.
Harry said an unnamed royal had talks with him about how dark the skin of his children could be. Meghan’s mother is black.
Meghan also said she had suicidal thoughts during her royal time.
After nearly two days of silence, Buckingham Palace has issued a brief statement saying the royal family is ‘saddened’ to hear of the extent of how challenging the past few years have been for Harry and Meghan.
Prince William denied on Thursday that Britain’s royal family was racist in his first public comment on Harry’s interview.
Harry and Meghan moved to California with their son, Archie, last year and announced on Valentine’s Day that they were expecting their second child.
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The queen (94) performed her duties in the hospital during Philip. She spoke to scientists and schoolchildren last week in celebration of British Science Week. In the video released by the palace, she reminds of the encounter with the first man to enter space, the Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, in 1961.
Prince Charles, the firstborn and heir to the throne of the royal couple, visited his father on 20 February.
Philip retired from public duty in 2017 and is not regularly seen in public. Both he and the queen received their coronavirus vaccinations in early January. In April, Philip issued a written statement praising those involved in the fight against the coronavirus.
He and the queen have been married for 73 years.