The Royal Danish House has said that His Royal Highness Prince Henrik of Denmark’s condition has “severely worsened.” As a result, Crown Prince Frederik, who was in South Korea to attend International Olympic Committee meetings and cheer on Danish athletes, has rushed home to be by his father’s side.
Their full statement reads: “The state of His Royal Highness Prince Henrik’s health has unfortunately severely worsened.
“His Royal Highness The Crown Prince has thus discontinued his stay in South Korea, where he was in conjunction with the Winter Olympics. The Crown Prince is now on his way to Denmark.
“Kongehuset currently has no additional information.”
Rasmus Tantholdt from TV 2 News in Denmark reported that the Crown Prince is currently on a flight to Denmark.
The 83-year-old Prince has been hospitalised since 28 January in Copenhagen’s Rigshospitalet after returning from Egypt for further testing. He had initially been in hospital in Egypt.
At the time, the Royal Danish House announced, “His Royal Highness Prince Henrik has been admitted to the Rigshospitalet in Copenhagen this evening. Since the beginning of January, the Prince has stayed in Egypt and was hospitalised a few days ago. His Royal Highness has now come home to undergo further investigations at Rigshospitalet.”
On 2 February, the Royal House announced that His Royal Highness had a tumour and infection in his left lung. Thankfully, the tumour was benign.
On that day, the Royal House said in a statement, “His Royal Highness Prince Henrik has been hospitalised since Sunday, 28 January, at the Rigshospitalet’s lung surgery department to investigate a tumour in the left lung. Fortunately, the tumour has proven to be benign.
“Prince Henrik will today be transferred to the infectious department for treatment for pulmonary infection. Upon completion of his treatment, His Royal Highness will stay at Fredensborg Palace.
“In this regard, Her Majesty the Queen will take up residence at Fredensborg Palace today.”
The Prince has been in ill health for the past few years. Just last year, the Danish monarchy announced that he was suffering from dementia and would further decrease his workload. The family, at the time, asked for understanding and privacy while he deals with the disease.
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Even a benign lung tumor ,if situated in the right place can be fatal. The mechanism would be bronchial obstruction , preventing aeration and drainage of the particular segment of lung that depends on that bronchus .