Britain's Prince Philip 'irritated' with attention on his hospitalisation

Prince Philip is preparing for his third consecutive night in the hospital but doesn't want the staff to pay so much attention to him.

The Duke of Edinburgh was taken to the King Edward VII Hospital in London's Marylebone on Thursday night as a "precautionary measure." The reason behind his hospitalisation hasn't been completely revealed, but it is said to be not COVID-related. While it was earlier reported that he is in "good spirits" and has been walking unaided, he is still being kept at the hospital for the third night.

However, a royal biographer believes that Prince Philip must be tired of the nurses and doctors taking extra care of him. Penny Junor joked that the 99-year-old is unlikely to be an ideal patient, and the healthcare workers wouldn't be wanting him on their shift, because he "doesn't like people making a fuss over him" and gets "irritated" if they do, reports Mail Online.

"I think he can be quite blunt and I think if he felt people were fussing over him he could be quite outspoken about that. This is a man who doesn't want any fuss made of his 100th birthday, so the fact he's in hospital and getting some fuss made of him will really irritate him," Junor told BBC Breakfast.

Buckingham Palace aides had previously revealed to The Daily Telegraph that the Duke, who will the first senior male British royal to mark his centenary, doesn't want any grand celebrations for his milestone birthday on June 10 this year. "You can't do something if someone doesn't want something doing...He's retired, he's stepped back, he doesn't want the fuss. You can't blame him," a source told the outlet.

The palace is still planning some kind of celebrations for him, be it a family gathering or a special exhibition, given that the coronavirus pandemic allows it. Prince Philip and his wife Queen Elizabeth II, who both fall in the high-risk group for the virus at the ages of 99 and 94 respectively, received their first dose of COVID-19 vaccine in January this year.

The couple spent most of the past year together as they isolated amid the pandemic, believed to be the longest time they spent with each other. Joe Little, the managing editor of Majesty magazine, said it provided the couple "an opportunity for them in their later years to reconnect" and was the "perfect royal cocooning."