Prince Philip, the husband of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II, was seen leaving the hospital on Tuesday after being treated for an infection and undergoing a cardiac procedure.
Philip, who is 99, was first admitted to a London hospital on 16 February. He stayed there for 28 nights, his longest hospital stay ever. On March 4, Buckingham Palace announced that he had successfully undergone a medical procedure due to a heart condition after being transferred to another hospital a few days earlier.
His time in the hospital coincided with a tumultuous period for royalty. Prince Harry, Philip’s grandson, along with his wife Meghan, talked about their reasons for departing from their roles as senior royalty and their reasons for leaving the UK in a much-discussed interview with media magnate Oprah Winfrey.
Harry said an unidentified real source spoke to him about how dark his children’s skin could be. Meghan’s mother is black.
Meghan also said that she had suicidal thoughts during her time as royalty.
After almost two days of silence, Buckingham Palace issued a brief statement saying that the royal family was “sad” to learn how challenging the past few years have been for Harry and Meghan.
On Thursday, Prince William denied that the British royal family was racist in his first public comments about Harry’s interview.
Harry and Meghan moved with their son, Archie, to California last year and announced on Valentine’s Day that they were expecting their second child.
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The 94-year-old queen continued her duties during Philip’s hospitalization. She spoke last week with scientists and school children to mark British Science Week. In the video released by the palace she recalled the encounter with the first human to travel to space, the Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, in 1961.
Prince Charles, the first son of the royal couple and heir to the throne, visited his father on February 20.
Philip retired from public office in 2017 and is not often seen in public. He and the queen received the coronavirus vaccine 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.