Britain’s King Charles and Princess Kate leave hospital after planned treatments

Britain’s King Charles and his daughter-in-law Kate, the Princess of Wales, both returned home from hospital on Monday after undergoing planned treatments. Charles, 75, who had spent three nights in hospital after undergoing a corrective procedure for an enlarged prostate, smiled and waved to crowds as he left the London Clinic accompanied by his wife Queen Camilla. A few hours earlier, Kate also headed home after spending two weeks at the same private hospital following abdominal surgery. Buckingham Palace said in a statement that Charles, who was visited in hospital by Camilla each day of his stay, wanted to thank his medical team and all those who had supported his hospital visit. “The king was this afternoon discharged from hospital following planned medical treatment and has rescheduled forthcoming public engagements to allow for a period of private recuperation,” Buckingham Palace said. Kate, 42, the wife of heir to the British throne Prince William, was making “good progress”, her Kensington Palace office said, and she was now back at home in Windsor. Britain’s King Charles ‘doing well’ after prostate surgery She had surgery for a non-specified, but non-cancerous, condition at the London Clinic earlier in January. Britain’s royals usually regard all medical issues as a private matter, but Charles chose to publicise his condition to encourage other men to have medical checks. His need for the procedure to treat an enlarged prostate, a benign condition common among men over 50, was announced by Buckingham Palace on January 17. The state-run National Health Service said there had been a 1,000 per cent increase in visits to its webpage giving advice on prostate enlargement since Charles’ diagnosis was revealed. Kate is not expected to return to public duties until after Easter. Prince William has postponed his engagements to look after their children, Prince George, 10, Princess Charlotte, 8, and Prince Louis, 5. Meanwhile, a lawyer for Prince Harry asked a judge on Monday to order the publisher of the Daily Mirror tabloid to pay nearly £2 million (US$2.5 million) for a portion of the legal fees spent to prove that Mirror Group Newspapers invaded his privacy by hacking his phone and using unlawful means to dig up scoops on him. The Duke of Sussex was awarded £140,000 (US$178,000) in damages last month after the judge found that phone hacking was “widespread and habitual” at Mirror newspapers and executives at the papers covered it up. The award was only a fraction of the sum he sought, but represented a major victory in his legal crusade against the British media. It is only one of several cases he has pending against tabloid publishers as he bucked his family’s long-standing aversion to litigation and in June became the first senior member of the royal family to testify in court in more than a century. Harry, 39, the alienated younger son of King Charles, is likely to return to court in the coming year in similar trials against the publishers of The Sun and Daily Mail over allegations of unlawful snooping. He recently dropped a libel case against the Mail publisher after an unfavourable pretrial ruling. The hearing on Monday was over legal fees for a trial that involved Harry as one of four claimants, including two cast members of Britain’s longest-running television soap opera, Coronation Street, who accused Mirror of hacking their phones and hiring private investigators to unlawfully gather information about their lives. Kate, Princess of Wales, hospitalised after abdominal surgery The judge found the privacy of all four claimants had been violated but he tossed out cases brought by actor Nikki Sanderson and Fiona Wightman, the former wife of comedian Paul Whitehouse, because they were filed too late. He awarded actor Michael Turner £31,000 (US$39,000). Lawyer David Sherborne argued that his case was “overwhelmingly successful” and his clients should be reimbursed legal fees because Mirror “advanced a fundamentally dishonest case”. Lawyer Roger Mallalieu for Mirror Group argued that it should only have to pay legal fees for the portions of the claims it lost. It said Sanderson and Wightman should pay MGN’s costs for losing their cases. He argued that Turner should only receive costs up to the point that Mirror offered a settlement that would have exceeded what he was awarded at trial and he should pay their costs after that point. Justice Timothy Fancourt indicated he would rule at a later date. The fees being sought were mainly for the broader claim brought against Mirror by all the claimants and not for the legal costs of preparing for and presenting Harry’s specific cases because his claims have not been fully resolved. Fancourt found that Mirror used unlawful information gathering in 15 of the 33 newspaper articles about Harry that were examined at trial. Those articles were selected as a representative sample from among nearly 150 articles that he said invaded his privacy. Sherborne asked that a trial be set to take up the remaining 115 articles. Mirror indicated in court papers that it has made a settlement offer to Harry that could not be disclosed. Once those claims are resolved, Harry will be able to seek additional lawyers’ fees. Prince Harry awarded US$154,000 in phone hacking claim against Mirror Group Phone hacking by British newspapers dates back more than two decades to a time when unethical journalists used an unsophisticated method of phoning the numbers of royals, celebrities, politicians and sports stars and, when prompted to leave a message, punched in default passcodes to eavesdrop on voicemails. The practice erupted into a full-blown scandal in 2011 when Rupert Murdoch’s News of the World was revealed to have intercepted messages of a murdered girl, relatives of deceased British soldiers and victims of a bombing. Murdoch closed the paper. Newspapers were later found to have used more intrusive means such as phone tapping, home bugging and obtaining flight information and medical records. Mirror Group Newspapers said it has paid more than £100 million (US$128 million) in other phone hacking lawsuits over the years, but denied wrongdoing in Harry’s case. It said it used legitimate reporting methods to get information on the prince. Additional reporting by Associated Press

Britain’s King Charles and Princess Kate leave hospital after planned treatments

Charles spent 3 nights in hospital after a procedure for an enlarged prostate while Kate spent 2 weeks at the same hospital following abdominal surgery ‘The king … has rescheduled forthcoming public engagements to allow for a period of private recuperation,’ Buckingham Palace said

Charles spent 3 nights in hospital after a procedure for an enlarged prostate while Kate spent 2 weeks at the same hospital following abdominal surgery

‘The king … has rescheduled forthcoming public engagements to allow for a period of private recuperation,’ Buckingham Palace said