Published5 minutes agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingImage source, ReutersBy Sean CoughlanRoyal correspondentCatherine, the Princess of Wales, has left hospital almost two weeks after having abdominal surgery.A statement from Kensington Palace said the princess has now returned to her home in Windsor and that she is “making good progress”.She was driven away from the London Clinic private hospital without any public appearance.The exact nature of the surgery has not been revealed, but the princess will need months of recuperation.The princess has spent 13 nights in hospital since her operation and is not expected to return to official duties until after Easter.King Charles ‘doing well’ after prostate treatmentKate visited by William after surgeryEnlarged prostate: What was the King’s health problem?Kensington Palace said the Prince and Princess of Wales wanted to send a “huge thank you” to the medical team at the hospital and for the “well wishes they have received from around the world”.Catherine was staying in the same hospital as the King, who visited her before he had a procedure for an enlarged prostate on Friday.

Published57 minutes agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingImage source, ReutersBy Sean CoughlanRoyal correspondentKing Charles has been admitted to hospital for treatment for an enlarged prostate, says Buckingham Palace.The procedure is being carried out at the London Clinic private hospital, where Catherine, the Princess of Wales had surgery last week.It’s understood the King visited his daughter-in-law in the hospital on Friday morning, ahead of his own scheduled treatment.The King is expected to spend at least one night at the hospital.Queen Camilla was seen with the monarch when he arrived at the hospital in Marylebone in central London.King to get prostate treatment and Kate in hospitalEnlarged prostate: Explaining the King’s conditionSarah Ferguson’s shock at skin cancer diagnosisKing Charles had made his health problem public as a way of sending a message to other men to get their prostates checked.Following the disclosure, the NHS website saw a surge in searches about enlarged prostates, an interest welcomed by doctors and charities.A statement from Buckingham Palace said the King was “delighted to learn that his diagnosis is having a positive impact on public health awareness”.He also thanked those who had “sent their good wishes”.Image source, PA MediaThe plan for King Charles, aged 75, to have “corrective procedure” for his enlarged prostate was revealed by the palace last week. He travelled on Thursday from Sandringham to London to have the operation.A benign prostate problem, which is non-cancerous, is common in older men, according to the NHS.Around one in three men over the age of 50 will have some symptoms of an enlarged prostate, which is a gland that sits just below the bladder.The medical treatment is not significant enough to require any constitutional changes for the King’s role as head of state. There won’t be a need for “counsellors of state” who can stand in when a monarch is seriously ill.A spokeswoman for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said he had sent best wishes to the King for a “speedy recovery”.The King is being treated in the same hospital where his daughter-in-law Catherine had “abdominal surgery” last week.Image source, EPAWhen she leaves the hospital it is expected that she will spend several months recuperating at home in Windsor. It means the princess will not be taking part in any official duties until after Easter.There was a third royal health story this week, when it was revealed that Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York, had been diagnosed with malignant melanoma, a form of skin cancer.It had been discovered during treatment for her breast cancer, which had been diagnosed last summer.”Naturally another cancer diagnosis has been a shock, but I’m in good spirits and grateful for the many messages of love and support,” said the duchess, who was formerly married to Prince Andrew.A spokesman for the duchess said she will have further investigations to ensure the melanoma has been caught in the early stages.More on this storySearches for enlarged prostate surge, says NHSPublished18 JanuaryKate in hospital as King to get prostate treatmentPublished17 JanuaryDuchess of York ‘shock’ at skin cancer diagnosisPublished4 days ago

Published15 hours agoSharecloseShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingImage source, Getty ImagesQueen Elizabeth II died of “old age”, according to her death certificate, which has been released by the National Records of Scotland.The certificate records the Queen died at 15:10 on 8 September in Balmoral Castle, at the age of 96.Princess Anne is recorded as the person providing the information about the Queen’s death.For “occupation” of the deceased, the official form says: “Her Majesty the Queen.”The doctor who certified the death at Balmoral in Aberdeenshire was Douglas Glass, who Buckingham Palace says was an “apothecary to the Queen”.When she was alive there was a curtain of privacy around the Queen’s health, and in her death there remains some restraint.Her cause of death is recorded as “old age”, without any further details.”Old age” is only usually given as the sole cause of death in very limited circumstances.This would be where the certifying doctor has personally cared for someone over a long period; where a gradual decline has been observed and where a doctor is not aware of any identifiable disease or injury contributing to a death.But the timing of the Queen’s death does confirm more about what happened during the day of 8 September, when so much attention was being paid to reports of her ill health.Buckingham Palace had formally announced the Queen’s death at 18:30, with news organisations around the world immediately relaying the announcement that: “The Queen died peacefully at Balmoral this afternoon.”There were subsequent reports that the Prime Minister Liz Truss had been privately notified earlier at 16:30.This death certificate shows the Queen had died at 15:10, more than three hours before the news was publicly released.During that afternoon, following earlier reports of concern about the Queen’s health, her children and grandchildren had rushed to Balmoral.’It’s important we see the Queen’s last resting place’This was history – solemn, spectacular and intenseSpecial stamps issued in memory of the QueenObituary: A long life marked by a sense of dutyBuckingham Palace had confirmed in a statement of 12:32 that there were health concerns – but that the Queen was “comfortable” and “under medical supervision”. King Charles – then Prince Charles – and his sister Princess Anne had already been in Scotland. But other members of the Royal Family travelled by air that afternoon, including Prince William.The timings would now suggest that their flight was still on its way to Aberdeen airport at the time of the Queen’s death.After the drive from the airport, Prince William, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward and his wife Sophie arrived at Balmoral at about 17:00.The stark details of the death certificate record the Queen’s status as “widowed” and give some family details.It requires the names and occupations of parents – her father formally recorded as Albert Frederick Arthur George Windsor, whose occupation was King George VI, her mother as Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon, who was Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother.The death had been recorded by the local registrar in Aberdeenshire on 16 September, when the Queen was lying in state in Westminster Hall in London.The Queen’s death certificate was released on the same day that the public was able to see her final resting place for the first time.Hundreds queued outside Windsor Castle to view the King George VI memorial chapel, inside St George’s Chapel, where a ledger stone inscribed with the late monarch’s name lies.