The Duke of Edinburgh misses the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations today as he remains in hospital with a bladder infection.
Prince Philip, who is 90, was taken to from Windsor Castle to the King Edward VII Hospital in London yesterday as a precautionary measure.
He will stay in hospital under observation for a few days, a Buckingham Palace spokeswoman said.
The Very Rev Dr David Ison, Dean of St Paul’s, told ITV’s Daybreak that prayers would be said for the Duke at today’s service.
“We were already going to say prayers for the Duke of Edinburgh and it will have an added poignancy as we hope he will make a swift recovery,” he said.
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Hugo Vickers, a royal biographer, said that the Prince would be taking his illness on the chin, and most probably watching the ceremony from his hospital bed.
Mr Vickers, who spent time with Prince Philip while writing a biography of his mother, Princess Andrew of Greece, said: “He will be taking it with a robust attitude. He’s generally incredibly fit. I saw him a week ago and I thought to myself that he walks like a man of 40.
“His shoes are sparkling clean, he’s firing on all cylinders. And he’s as – how shall I put it? – direct as he’s ever been.
“His absence makes it a bittersweet day, especially seeing the Queen at the head of her congregation without him.”
He added: “When the Duke went into hospital at Christmas, the Queen kept him in there a few extra days so that he would stay out and not go back in again. She needed him for the Diamond Jubilee. In the end she only had him for most of it.”
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Three police officers stood guard at the main entrance to the hospital this morning while other exits were also guarded and a police van was parked at the side.
A number of members of staff were seen entering the building while a man dressed in a morning suit got out of a taxi and went inside.
A large pack of press were huddled together behind a barrier facing the private hospital, which had a Union Jack flying from it.
The Prince of Wales paid tribute to his father last night as he addressed crowds gathered for the Diamond Jubilee concert outside Buckingham Palace.
“The only sad thing about this evening is that my father cannot be here with us because unfortunately he’s been taken unwell,” he said.
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He added: “Ladies and gentlemen, if we shout loud enough he might just hear us in hospital.”
A huge cheer went up from the spectators and many stamped their feet and chants of “Philip, Philip” broke out.
Doctors said that bladder infections respond rapidly to treatment.
Standing on a windswept boat for nearly four hours on Sunday may have aggravated the infection, they said, but would not have caused it.
If he had even minor symptoms on Sunday, the river pageant would have been extremely uncomfortable. Given the Duke’s age, he may have been admitted to hospital yesterday as a precaution before reaching a more severe level of infection.
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Simon Carter, a consultant urologist and medical director of the London Clinic, said: “There is always that old wives’ tale: you get a cold and it causes infections. There is no scientific justification behind that.
“If the Duke of Edinburgh had the infection before the river pageant and then became cold, it might have contributed to the infection.
“Those are not the best conditions for getting better. The flotilla would have been extraordinarily awkward, because you would need to urinate frequently.”
Given that the Duke smiled almost throughout the boat trip and went below deck only once, for about ten minutes, he may have developed a full-blown infection overnight.
Mark Porter, The Times’s doctor, said: “Simple cystitis does not require hospitalisation, but accompanying high temperatures and flu-like illness suggests a more serious infection that may need intravenous antibiotics — something that is generally only offered in hospital.
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“You can’t get a urine infection from standing on a boat in the wind and rain, but the resulting fatigue might exacerbate a problem that was already brewing.
“The outlook is excellent, in that urinary infections generally respond rapidly to treatment, but the doctors looking after Prince Philip are bound to err on the side of caution — and not just because of his age.”
The condition, known as a urinary tract infection or cystitis, is more common in women because they have a shorter urethra (the tube leading out of the bladder), allowing bacteria to enter more easily.
The infection normally affects men in older age because the urethra can be obstructed by enlargement of the prostate; the doughnut-shaped gland that sits below the bladder.
If the bladder fails to empty properly, bacteria in the urine that is left behind may cause an infection.
In the vast majority of cases the condition can be treated at home with a short course of antibiotics and by drinking more fluids to flush out the system.
In more serious cases, however, the infection can spread to the kidneys. Patients may develop a fever, flu-like aches and pains, shivers and, in the elderly, confusion. A patient may need treatment in hospital to receive a stronger dose of antibiotics intravenously, typically over a 48-hour period.