Prince Phillip

The Duke of Edinburgh’s award was established by three men - The Duke of Edinburgh, Kurt Hahn who was the founder and headmaster of Gordonstoun School and the founder of Outward Bound, and Lord Hunt, who was the leader of the first successful ascent of Mount Everest. It’s a great thing for sure, but doesn’t excuse the worst of his behaviour over the years.

3nanny6 they are indeed old and I do wish the Queen would retire and have a few years just doing what she wants - and maybe spend more time with her husband while he's still around (if they want to, of course)

All the sniping and nastiness but not one word praising the wonderful scheme he set up to help all youngsters.
The Duke of Edinburgh awards.

Old Prince Philip what a remarkable age hope he gets another two years and our Royal Sovereign can send him his telegram.

I like both of them they have had a hard time recently they are elderly now and need some peace.

possibly the reason for using the King Edward hospital is so members of the royal family can visit each other much more easily than if they were at the Queen Elizabeth hospital in Kings Lynn, less disruption to other patients too, although I presume like many other hospitals they have the potential to
have private patients. Possibly PP might not want to go to the Queen Elizabeth hospital either, just because of the name.

annepl would you refuse private health care for your family
and tell them ‘Other people can’t afford private health care and have to be treated in the NHS ,even thought I can afford
to pay for you I will not until everyone can’

annemac101 very well said

There will be hundreds or more families in the UK at this moment dealing with ill relatives. Some will be babies,toddlers,young people and many will die before they have lived a life. Price Phillip will have much better care than any of those I' ve mentioned. He has lived a long and privileged life. Let his family worry about him,no need for us to speculate whether he has a bladder infection or not. Save your sympathy for people who can't get an ambulance or are lying for hours on a hospital trolley not a man who is getting the best treatment our money can buy.

I agree with Urmstongran. I feel sorry that PP is ill but I do resent the health care that they have compared to the rest of us. It just isn't fair.
How reassuring it would be to know that whatever little ailment you have you can get seen to immediately, so no stress about possibly being ill and not getting to see a doctor /consultant. While the rest of us have to resort to Mr Google whilst waiting. .......weeks..months..years.
The RF must be aware of this privilege. How do they justify it to themselves?

I have to defend the Queen, she is loyal, she will not abdicate. As far as Prince Philips Hospital observation period,I think he will annoy everybody until he is discharged in a few days, the Queen probably knows this, and is taking care of her visitors arriving at Sandringham in the next few days.If his condition was serious she would be by his side.

My heart went out to the Queen she looked so sad and lonely on the news at the station

Summerlove, you say "the royals" but the only examples you give are of the queen and who she did and didn't visit in hospital. I wonder if we can remember instances of other royal couples and how they dealt with hospital stays? I am not sure I can, other than when Kate has been in hospital William has visited daily. When Charles had a broken arm, Camilla travelled to be near him (even though he was still married to Diana, technically). No I think we're so used to the Queen and her ways of being the Queen that we're somehow assuming the rest of her family are the same in certain respects that they might not be. The Queen and Duke are doing what suits them as a couple and all the other couples I hope feel free to have their relationships their own way.

Many people accept marriages break down

Violetham, I agree with you re Charles. He and Camilla are not going to be popular with a lot of the nation. People have long memories.

Maybe he'll be helicoptered off to Sandringham in time to say, "You stupid boy" to Andrew over Christmas lunch.

I'll let you know, Paperback. The helicopter flies over us as we live alongside the Kings Lynn to London railway line and they use it to navigate. We heard it heading south last night so maybe it's waiting to take him back to Sandringham.

Who knows??

The Queen was with the Queen Mother when she died, at least that was reported at the time. The Queen Mother’s niece was also there. Her name escapes me, she is now dead also, but featured in many Royal documentaries. She and the Queen were very close I believe.

The Royals never seem to visit their family when they are ill. I don't believe the Queen even visited her mother or sister towards the end either.

It's pretty poor, in my opinion, and doesn't reflect well on her, especially as she is on her Christmas break now.

Different families do things differently. I don’t think it reflects poorly on her at all.

There is a lot to complain about with the royals, but that seems like a silly stand to make

jura2, the initial reports were just saying "he didn't travel in an ambulance" so people were assuming it was a car. Actually I think the helicopter probably landed a little way away and he did the final few minutes by car. I have also read since that he was initially taken to the local hospital near Sandringham, and from there it was organised to transfer him. That must be the "planned" bit. I don't suppose the initial spell in the local hospital had been planned.

Yes there is no doubt that easy access to top medical care has played a part There have however been some cases in the news recently about long waits for ambulances where the patient could have been helped into a car without causing any extra problems, but people tend to be worried about doing so, and the health service doesn't help by not having A&E at all hospitals so anyone who might have helped with a lift isn't sure where they would take them. I checked out my own local health area's guidelines for what to do when there is an emergency or urgent care need, and it listed when to call 111 and when to call an ambulance and when to use your local urgent care centre - but nowhere was there a list of hospitals you could take an emergency to if you were taking them yourself - leaving totally no choice but to call 999 in an emergency.

I like to think that if the Queen is on Gransnet, she's using the name Brenda.

Urmstongran- totally agree with you. So why did they say he had been driven in an 'ordinary' car then???

I imagine he's got a UTI and has gone a bit more doolally than would be OK for a Christmas houseful to deal with.
I'm probably wrong, of course. Maybe he'll be helicoptered off to Sandringham in time to say, "You stupid boy" to Andrew over Christmas lunch.

So Prince Philip was flown by helicopter from the Queen's Sandringham Estate in Norfolk to London before being driven to the King Edward VII Hospital in Marylebone.

Pity there was no helicopter to rush Donna Gilby to hospital.
Poor woman, 47y died on Thursday after lying in the street for six hours waiting for an ambulance in South Wales.

She had previous conditions too, suffered two mini strokes.

I can’t help but think - no wonder all the Royals look so well with top notch physicians and surgeons on stand by. No waiting for a GP appointment for them! Got a twinge? Anxious about some worrying symptoms? “Do get Jeeves to make a call please”.

The Queen is sensible keeping to ‘never complain, never explain’ . She has no wish to feed the media.

@Sussexborn, actually there is nothing constitutionally stopping the Queen making statements defending hers and her family's personal decisions and habits, should she wish to. She has put a lot of personal choice into the way she interprets her role. Most people seem to agree her ways have been wise. But I think we will see changes of mode during future reigns.