Queen visits hospitalized husband

LONDON – Queen Elizabeth II’s husband is expected to spend a second night in a hospital where he is recovering from a heart procedure, palace officials said Saturday.

Prince Philip, 90, had a coronary stent put in late Friday to fix a blocked artery, though the palace has refused to say if he had a heart attack.

On Saturday, Philip – also known as the Duke of Edinburgh – received visits from the queen and his four children at Papworth Hospital, where he was admitted after experiencing chest pains at the queen’s Sandringham estate in Norfolk.

The illness has cast a shadow over the royal family’s traditional Christmas gathering at Sandringham – the first to include Prince William’s new wife, Catherine. Buckingham Palace said Philip is not expected to attend church today with his family, but that the service will go on as planned.

A helicopter brought Elizabeth to her husband’s side at Papworth Hospital, about 70 miles from London, on Saturday. She was accompanied by three of her children – Princess Anne, Prince Edward and Prince Andrew.

The palace said Prince Charles and his wife, Camilla, arrived by car at the hospital 45 minutes after the queen for a separate visit.

Doctors said Philip could have had a heart attack, but without more information it was impossible to know for sure.