The Duke of Edinburgh is a highly-active man who has enjoyed good health for most of his life.

He underwent surgery in 1967 to remove a cyst from his right wrist, in 1987 to repair a hernia and in 1996 to erase a small benign growth on his nose

Being a royal has agreed with him and he has kept his lean figure throughout, although his tall stature has diminished as he has got older.

The 90-year-old has shunned the pursuits of typical pensioners and, even as an octogenarian, continued to compete in demanding carriage-driving competitions.

But a heart scare in December saw Philip spend Christmas in hospital. He spent the festive break convalescing at the Queen’s private Sandringham estate after he was successfully treated for a blocked coronary artery on Christmas Eve.

A few days after being discharged, he made an appearance at a church service on New Year’s Day and was applauded by the crowds who had gathered.

Prior to that, he was beset by an uncharacteristic cold in October that forced him to pull out of an overnight stay in Italy for the launch of the ARC Green Pilgrimage Network.

He had just completed a busy 11-day official royal tour to Australia with the Queen that saw them visit Perth, Melbourne, Canberra and Brisbane.

Commentators billed the long-haul trip as the couple’s lastto the continent because of their age, but the Palace dismissed the speculation.

Most of Philip’s ailments and injuries have been sports-related.

He suffered arthritis in his right wrist from playing polo and tried to dull the pain with Butazolidin, a drug more usually given to lame horses and recommended by his head groom.

It was reported that he stopped taking it because of the side effects.

In 1961, he broke a bone in his left ankle in a collision on the polo field and in 1963, again playing polo, he suffered a gash to his left arm which needed three stitches.

The Duke was X-rayed in 1964 after a fall from his polo pony when he pulled a ligament in his left shoulder.

He also developed synovitis, a rheumatoid condition of the tendon in the hand, after a polo fall.

Very early in the Queen’s reign, in 1952, Philip fell sick with jaundice and since then he has been in hospital on a few occasions.

He underwent surgery in 1967 to remove a cyst from his right wrist, in 1987 to repair a hernia and in 1996 to erase a small benign growth on his nose.

His arthritic wrist eventually forced him to give up polo in 1971 – the year of his 50th birthday – after which he took up horse-carriage driving.

Shaking many thousands of hands at official functions made his arthritis worse and caused him to change his once-firm grip to a “limp-wristed” style.

He does not smoke, having stubbed out his last cigarette shortly before his wedding to the Queen in 1947, giving up virtually overnight. Over the years the Duke has been an advocate of healthy eating combined with exercise.

As he turned 70, one of the Queen’s physicians described him as “astonishingly fit for a man of his age” and he has continued to exercise, swimming regularly.

He once said that he more or less follows the Atkins diet and he drinks only moderately.

It was only when he reached the age of 82 that Philip decided for the first time not to take part in the Trooping the Colour ceremony on horseback. Instead, he travelled in a carriage with the Queen. Those who suggested he was in poor health were given short shrift. “Do I look bloody ill?” he shouted at one estate worker at Sandringham.

Accidental mishaps sometimes left the Duke looking the worse for wear. In 2005, he was seen sporting dark glasses and a badly-bruised left eye after slipping in the bath and catching the side of his eye with his thumb.

In May 2006, the Duke pulled out of a royal engagement after suffering from a trapped nerve in his neck. After a weekend recovering, he attended the Chelsea Flower Show, appearing none the worse for wear.

A chest infection laid him low in April 2008 for a number of days and he was eventually admitted to hospital for treatment.

In August 2008, Buckingham Palace took the unusual step of speaking out to deny a report that the Duke had been diagnosed with prostate cancer. In January 2009, 87-year-old Philip missed a string of engagements with a bad back after pulling a muscle while carriage driving.

In June 2010, the Duke had minor surgery on his left hand just before his 89th birthday to cure carpal tunnel syndrome – a common condition that causes pain, numbness and a burning sensation in the hand and fingers.

The hand operation forced Philip to cancel an official trip with the Queen to Crewe.

The first acknowledgement of his advancing years came as he was preparing to turn 90. The Palace announced that the Duke planned to step down as president or patron of more than a dozen organisations.