Prince Philip, 99, leaves the hospital after 4 week stay

Britain's Prince Philip, the 99-year-old husband of Queen Elizabeth, has left a London hospital on Tuesday after a four-week stay for treatment for an infection and to have a heart procedure.

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  • Teenage Queen and Prince Philip pictured together in rare images from 1939

    The pictures were unearthed from a private collection and show Philip looking after a 13-year-old Elizabeth.

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  • Priti Patel approves extradition of world’s most wanted billionaire

    The world’s most wanted billionaire Nirav Modi has had his extradition to India approved by Priti Patel. The Home Secretary ordered the extradition of the diamond tycoon after a British judge ruled there was sufficient evidence to send him back to India for trial. He has been accused of money laundering and fraud over allegations that he embezzled more than $1 billion (£700 million) from the Punjab National Bank (PNB). Mr Modi was tracked down by The Telegraph after he went on the run. He was found living in a luxury apartment in a high rise block in London’s West End in March 2019.

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  • Who is Penny Knatchbull? Countess Mountbatten who is only friend at Prince Philip's funeral

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  • Michel Barnier warns that Frexit remains a risk ahead of presidential elections

    Michel Barnier has warned that France could follow the UK out of the EU, as polls show growing support for the Eurosceptic Marine Le Pen. He said there was “social unrest and anger” over immigration and Europe’s failure to defend its borders and for the “red tape and complexity” of the EU. “We could draw some lessons from Brexit for ourselves. It's now too late for the UK but not for us," the former EU chief negotiator said. “We can find, not just in the UK, but here in France, in the northern regions […] citizens who want to leave the EU,” Mr Barnier, who has returned to domestic politics, said. He added, “It is our responsibility to understand why the British left [...] it's important for us to listen to the anger that was expressed in the UK, and to implement the kind of changes that are necessary to better understand and reassure the European citizens that remain.” Latest IFOP polling shows that Ms Le Pen, who leads the National Rally party, would beat the pro-EU Emmanuel Macron by two percentage points in the first round of next year’s presidential elections. Mr Macron is predicted to win in the second round by 54 percent to 46 percent but that is narrower than the 66.1 percent to 34.6 percent defeat she suffered four years ago. Ms Le Pen called for Frexit in that election but has since stopped campaigning for France to leave the bloc. Instead she wants to create a “Europe of nations”. Mr Barnier hopes to rebuild support for the centre-Right Républicains party ahead of the elections. He was speaking at an event on Brexit in Northern France, where fishermen are complaining they have not yet got fishing licences from the UK since Brexit. Clément Beaune, France’s Europe Minister, said the EU was accused of “being weak and slow”. He said that the bloc should take heart from its robust approach to the Brexit negotiations. “Back in 2016 people thought that this was the beginning of the end for Europe, but we have been able to show that we can be agile, that we can react, that we can be consistent in defending our interests in a firm way to defend the greatest European assets – the Single Market and our political unity.” He added: “These are lessons that we must all keep in mind as Europe is facing more difficulties.” The European Commission warned Britain that any further unilateral action over the Northern Ireland Protocol was unacceptable at a meeting on Thursday night. Maros Sefcovic, the commission vice-president, told Lord Frost that “solutions can only be found through joint actions and through joint bodies”. Britain insists that its unilateral actions in extending the grace periods on food products and parcels is lawful and made in good faith. The meeting over the implementation of new post-Brexit customs arrangements in Northern Ireland was said to be “constructive” by both sides.

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  • Step forward, Prince Edward: the future Duke of Edinburgh's newfound role at the heart of the royals

    One of the inevitable results of Prince Philip’s sad death is a shake-up in the House of Windsor. And Prince Edward, who will in time become the Duke of Edinburgh, is bound to take on a more prominent role in supporting the Queen and, in time, her successor, Prince Charles. Prince Philip may not have been in the royal line of succession. But his importance to the monarchy was paramount – and his death leaves a huge gap to be filled. The title of Duke of Edinburgh has now been automatically inherited by Prince Charles. But, in a sign of the affection of the Queen and Prince Philip for their youngest son, it will be passed on to Prince Edward on the sad day of the Queen’s death. This was made clear by the Queen in 1999, when Prince Edward married Sophie Rhys-Jones in 1999 and was made Earl of Wessex. When Prince Charles becomes king, the title of Duke of Edinburgh will ‘merge in the Crown’, meaning the title no longer exists. But Charles III will bestow on his youngest brother a new ‘creation’ of the ‘Duke of Edinburgh’ – the fourth creation of the title since it was first bestowed in 1726. It makes perfect sense. Of Prince Philip’s four children, Prince Edward has always been most closely associated with the Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award, created by Prince Philip in 1956. Prince Philip funeral news and royal family updates

  • Britain wanted Joe Biden to 'keep US forces in Afghanistan'

    The UK wanted US troops to stay in Afghanistan, the head of the Armed Forces has revealed. General Sir Nick Carter said President Biden's decision to pull out all 2,500 US troops by September 11 was "not the decision” the UK wanted. The Chief of Defence Staff said: "It's not a decision that we'd hoped for. But we obviously respect it, and it's clearly an acknowledgement of an evolving US Strategic posture." Earlier this week President Biden vowed to end America's "forever war" in Afghanistan, which began 20 years ago following 9/11, when they first arrived to bring down the Taliban regime harbouring Osama bin Laden. Nato said the withdrawal process would begin by May 1 and could be completed in just a few months. However, many have cautioned that the UK, which has agreed to an "orderly departure of our forces" by withdrawing the remaining 750 British troops by the deadline, said they had no choice but to cooperate because staying without the US was impossible. Former defence minister Tobias Ellwood, Chairman of the Defence Select Committee, said the US decision risked "losing the peace" and allowing extremism to "regroup". It was "concerning" and "not the right move". He said British forces had "no choice" but to leave due to the US's "significant force protection capabilities from which we benefited". Mr Ellwood added: "Remaining allied forces are unable to fill that vacuum without upgrading our posture for which there is no political appetite."

  • Colin the Caterpillar vs Cuthbert, Curly and Wiggles: we decide which tastes best

    In the tale of The Very Hungry Caterpillar, along with an ice-cream cone, a pickle, a slice each of Swiss cheese and salami, a lollipop, a wedge of cherry pie, a sausage, cupcake and a slice of watermelon, our ravenous protagonist devours a piece of chocolate cake. It is perhaps no coincidence that the latter has become synonymous with the insect (and visa versa), and subsequently that a caterpillar-shaped sponge is often the most familiar guest at birthday parties and office celebrations across the land. Nor is it surprising that the news of Marks & Spencer taking Aldi to court in a bid to protect its Colin the Caterpillar cake has provoked such an uproar. The retailer has accused the discounter chain of riding on its reputational coat-tails after Aldi began selling its own Cuthbert the Caterpillar cake, which looks very similar. But since M&S launched Colin (a chocolate-coated sponge cake bearing buttercream, topped with sweets and fronted by a smiling white-chocolate face) some 30 years ago, similar critters have emerged, and not only from the German discount store. From Cuthbert and Wiggles to Curly and Carl the free-from caterpillar, there are cute-faced chocolate Swiss rolls in almost every supermarket – and each has a band of fervently loyal supporters. But how do they compare to each other? Does Colin hold the gold standard when it comes to softness of sponge and flavour of edible boot? Are the sprinkles on Curly superior to those adorning Morris? While Aldi has not stocked its Cuthbert cake since mid-February and so was sadly unavailable for review, we netted the best of the rest and put them to the test.

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  • ‘Staff have been treated like cannon fodder’: NHS bosses issue stark warning on future of health service

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  • Prince Philip apologised to Richard Nixon for faux pas with 'lame' toast during White House visit

    Throughout his decades in public life, Prince Philip was known for putting his royal foot in his mouth with occasional off-the-cuff remarks that could be embarrassing. But his faux pas at a White House dinner with President Richard Nixon in 1969 was enough for Philip to actually lose sleep. In a handwritten note to the president uncovered by archivists at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum in Yorba Linda, California, the Duke of Edinburgh wrote to "humbly apologise" for failing to toast the president's health as dictated by protocol during a "stag" dinner in his honor. "After the brilliance of the other speakers and yourself, I am afraid my contribution was very lame," Philip wrote to Nixon from Greenland on Nov 7 after his solo US trip had concluded. He added: "That night I woke up in a cold sweat when I realised I had forgotten to propose your health!" Philip died last week at age 99, and his funeral is Saturday. He was married to Queen Elizabeth for 73 years. "I think the letter itself shows the character of Prince Philip that so much of the public in the U.K. and across the Commonwealth, and really across the world, have come to admire," said Jim Byron, executive vice president of the Nixon Foundation. He said the letter was discovered before the coronavirus pandemic but made public this week, as a way of marking Philip's death. "It expresses some private feelings of a moment in time that the public really doesn't always get a chance to see," Mr Byron added.

  • Helen McCrory championed charity with Damian Lewis in one of last public appearances, weeks before her death

    ‘Very few people had any idea what she was clearly going through,’ tweets GB News presenter Dan Wootton

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    Flames of burning gas that puncture the sky are not just killing the planet – they’re killing Iraqis. In oil towns blighted by this toxic air across the country, locals tell Bel Trew they fear for their future as, one by one, their friends and family are struck by disease