Inside clinic where Princess of Wales being treated
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The private hospital where the Princess of Wales is receiving treatment has a long history with the royal family.
Kate, 42, is recovering at The London Clinic after undergoing successful abdominal surgery, Kensington Palace announced on Wednesday.
She was admitted on Tuesday for the planned procedure.
The London Clinic was officially opened by the then-Duke and Duchess of York in 1932.
It was the brainchild of a group of Harley Street doctors who set out to plan a new nursing home using the highest medical standards of the day.
Past patients include the late Duke of Edinburgh Prince Philip, the late Queen’s younger sister Princess Margaret and former US president John F Kennedy.
Actress Elizabeth Taylor was also treated at the clinic after falling on a film set in the 1960s.
According to its website, the hospital was “founded on the principles of providing excellence in one place”.
The facility said it could treat 155 conditions, with hundreds of treatments, tests and scans available.
It also operated as a charity, reinvesting in research, education and innovation.
Since the 1980s, a number of facilities at the site have been officially launched by members of the royal family.
The King, as the then-Prince of Wales, opened the physiotherapy department in 1989, while Princess Margaret launched the MRI unit in 1991 and the late Queen unveiled a new cancer unit in 2010.
The latest inspection by the Care Quality Commission (CQC), carried out in June 2021, rated The London Clinic as “good” overall.
According to the health watchdog, the hospital has about 23,000 inpatients a year, with a further 110,000 outpatients.
It is registered to provide surgery as well as diagnostics and screening, treatment of disease, disorder or injury, management of supply of blood and blood-derived products.
The building at 20 Devonshire Place has seven main operating theatres and three additional theatres, as well as six specialty wards for surgeries in urology, gynaecology, thoracic surgery, orthopaedics and spinal procedures.
The Princess of Wales is expected to spend between 10 and 14 days in the hospital and two to three months recovering.
She is not expected to return to public duties until after Easter, at the end of March.
