Duke of Edinburgh hospitalised

Queen Elizabeth's 86-year-old husband Prince Philip has been taken to hospital with a chest infection, Buckingham Palace said yesterday.

The blunt-talking prince, who the palace said was working from his hospital bed, has been an energetic figure in the House of Windsor for more than six decades.

He was admitted to hospital on Thursday afternoon after suffering from a heavy cold. He was able to walk into the building and has been working on correspondence and making phone calls from his hospital bed, the palace said.

A palace spokesman said: "The Duke of Edinburgh has been admitted to King Edward VII Hospital (in central London) for assessment and treatment for a chest infection".

The spokesman said it was not clear how long he would stay in hospital or whether any members of the royal family will be visiting him. All his official engagements have been cancelled for the weekend.

Last week Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip hosted a state visit to Britain by French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his new wife, model-turned singer Carla Bruni.

But he failed to attend a service this week at Windsor Castle's St George's Chapel in memory of Sir Edmund Hillary, conqueror of Everest at the time of Queen Elizabeth's coronation in 1953.

Prince Philip is known for his acerbic wit but has also caused offence with off-the-cuff remarks. He once told British students in China: "If you stay here much longer, you'll be slitty-eyed," and he asked Aborigines in Australia if they still threw spears at each other.

Fact box

• Philippos Schleswig-Holstein Soenderburg-Glucksburg was born on a dining room table on the Greek island of Corfu on June 10, 1921, the fifth child and only son of Prince Andrew of Greece.

• Philip's parents went into exile when he was 18 months old. They sailed from Corfu with him sleeping in a cot made hurriedly from orange boxes.

• He was educated at Gordonstoun, a tough school in Scotland, where his son, Prince Charles was later an unwilling pupil, and became a naturalised British citizen, looking and sounding every bit the English gentleman.

• Philip joined Britain's Royal Naval College at Dartmouth, southern England, as a cadet, in 1939. He graduated top of his class and served on battleships, cruisers and destroyers during World War II. He was mentioned in dispatches, took part in the Allied landings in Sicily and was in Tokyo Bay when the Japanese surrendered in 1945.

• Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip first met when at the wedding of Prince Philip's cousin, Princess Marina of Greece, to The Duke of Kent, who was an uncle of Princess Elizabeth, in 1934.

• They were married at Westminster Abbey on November 20, 1947 in a spectacular ceremony attended by statesmen and royalty from around the world.

• He continued his naval career until 1951, then took indefinite leave and devoted himself full-time to public duties when Elizabeth became queen a year later.