UK Queen’s husband admitted to hospital

LONDON—Queen Elizabeth II’s husband, Prince Philip, has been admitted to a hospital with a chest infection, Buckingham Palace said Friday.
A spokeswoman said the 86-year-old was taken to the hospital for “assessment and treatment for a chest infection.” She said she had no information about his condition.
“His royal highness’s program of engagements for the weekend have been canceled,” the spokeswoman said on condition of anonymity in line with palace policy. Officials at King Edward VII’s Hospital in central London said they would not comment on Philip’s condition.
Philip was taken to the hospital Thursday evening by private car after suffering from a cold for three or four days without showing signs of improvement, the palace said.
An ambulance was not needed and it was not an urgent transfer to the hospital, said a palace spokesman, who also spoke on condition of anonymity in line with palace policy. He said doctors want to “work out exactly what is wrong.”
Philip did not attend a memorial service on Wednesday for Sir Edmund Hillary, the first man to conquer Mount Everest, because he was ill with a cold, Buckingham Palace said.
Last week, Philip looked well as he joined the queen in saying goodbye to French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his wife Carla Bruni-Sarkozy at the end of a two-day state visit. Philip smiled as the Sarkozys’ car pulled away and waved to the departing guests from Windsor Castle.
An active man who has enjoyed good health well into his 80s, Philip is known as the queen’s constant companion at public events.
This week, a coroner at an inquest into the death of Princess Diana forcefully rejected a conspiracy theory that Philip was behind a secret service plot to kill the princess and her boyfriend Dodi Fayed.
The theory has been ridiculed by many, but tenaciously put forward for more than a decade by Dodi Fayed’s father, Mohamed Al Fayed. Lord Justice Scott Baker shot down the idea, saying there was “no evidence that the Duke of Edinburgh (Philip) ordered Diana’s execution and there is no evidence that the Secret Intelligence Service or any other government agency organized it.”
Philip has been married to the queen since 1947. A member of the Greek royal family, he renounced his royal title when he became a naturalized British subject in 1947.
He joined the Royal Navy in 1939 and saw active service throughout World War II, rising to the rank of lieutenant. After Elizabeth became queen, Philip gave up his naval career to support her.
He has no constitutional role other than as one of the queen’s privy counselors. Philip is a great-great-grandchild of Queen Victoria.

—Agencies