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Catherine Duchess Of Cambridge

December 26, 2011 by · Comments Off on Catherine Duchess Of Cambridge 

Catherine Duchess Of CambridgeCatherine Duchess Of Cambridge, Queen Elizabeth II’s husband Prince Philip missed the royals’ traditional Christmas pheasant shoot on Monday after he spent a third night in hospital following heart surgery.

Philip, 90, was rushed to hospital on Friday complaining of chest pains and required an emergency procedure to unblock a coronary artery.

The prince, known as the Duke of Edinburgh, spent a “good night” in hospital, a Buckingham Palace spokesman said on Monday.

Philip is said by aides to be eager to leave the Papworth Hospital in Cambridgeshire, eastern England, but no date for his release has been given.

He usually leads the royal family’s traditional shoot at their Sandringham country estate, held on December 26, or Boxing Day as it is known in Britain. The shoot was expected to have gone ahead without him.

In a statement on Sunday, the Palace said he was “in good spirits and will remain in hospital under observation for a short period.

“The Queen will continue to be briefed on his condition. We do not have details of a release date at this stage.”

The prince was given a festive boost on Sunday with a Christmas Day visit from grandsons Prince William and Harry and four other of his eight grandchildren.

The queen herself visited her husband of 64 years at the hospital on Sunday after the royal family’s Christmas church service.

Later in the day, the prince’s grandchildren swept into the hospital, which lies 80 kilometres (50 miles) from Sandringham, in a fleet of cars.

William’s wife Catherine appeared at the church service for the first time following their wedding in April, wearing a plum-coloured hat and coat, but she did not attend the hospital.

William, the 29-year-old second in line to the throne, was accompanied by Zara Tindall — who married rugby player Mike Tindall this year — and Peter Phillips, the children of the queen’s daughter Princess Anne.

Prince Harry, William’s younger brother, drove to the hospital in a separate car which also carried Beatrice and Eugenie, the daughters of the queen’s second youngest son Prince Andrew.

The royals told hundreds of well-wishers who had gathered on Sunday to see them attend the Christmas service in the St Mary Magdalene church at Sandringham that Philip’s condition was improving.

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