Weather world looks back at some of the most significant meteorological events of the year the duke of edinburgh has left hospital where he was being treated for what officials describe as a pre existing the duke walked out of the king edward vii hospital in central london, and got into a car before being driven away. He travelled to the hospital on friday as a precautionary measure. Buckingham palace say his four night stay was for observation and treatment. The duke is now back at sandringham where he is expected to spend christmas with the queen. In a moment we will be speaking to our correspondent, Charlotte Gallagher, who is at sandringham. But first, lets go tojohn mcmanus who is in central london, outside the hospital where Prince Philip was receiving treatment. Do we know why Prince Philip was in hospitalfor do we know why Prince Philip was in hospital for the last few days . Very good to see him walk out himself. We dont know why he was brought here on friday to king edward seventh hospital on friday. The palace said it was a precautionary measure on the advice of the dukes doctor but they would not say what the precaution was of against and they are usually tight lipped about the health of royal family members. I just before 8 50am he left from an entrance at the rear of the hospital and was able to walk into the range rover unescorted. He thanked staff before he left in should hand with a nurse and is now on its way, presumably to sandringham to spend christmas with the queen and the rest of the royal family. No details why he was here for four nights but we know he has been treated in hospital several times over the last few years, hospital several times over the last few yea rs, treated hospital several times over the last few years, treated for a bladder infection, a hip replacement operation and an operation on his stomach. Yesterday when Prince Charles was visiting a flood hit town in yorkshire, fishlake, he was asked about its fathers health and said ina asked about its fathers health and said in a form of words, when you reach that age, things do not work as well as they normally do. I think anybody with elderly parents will know what he is talking about. The duke is 98 so it is perhaps no surprise that he occasionally has to see doctors. We do not know why he was here but he seems to be on the way to enjoy christmas with the rest of his family. Thank you, john mcmanus. Charlotte gallagher is in sandringham, where the queen has beenin sandringham, where the queen has been in residence since friday. The duke arrived in sandringham pretty quickly . In the last ten minutes or so quickly . In the last ten minutes or soa quickly . In the last ten minutes or so a helicopter landed on the estate at sandringham, he is back at home with his family. He now lives here full time since he retired from public life in 2017. He spends most of his time at sandringham. Speaking to people who work you, they say they often see him Walking Around they often see him Walking Around the estate and members of the public can bump into him if they can hear. It isa can bump into him if they can hear. It is a real belief that he is spending christmas with his family. We will see the queen on Christmas Day, she goes to church in the morning with the rest of her family. We dont know if Prince Philip will join her, he didnt go last year and since he retired he spent a lot less time in public, preferring to spend it away from the media spotlight. We do think that Prince George and princess charlotte, the children of princess charlotte, the children of Prince William and catherine, will be at Church Tomorrow for the first time on Christmas Day, so a real treat for the royal fans who line up for hours in order to catch a glimpse of the royal family to see the children going to church. Speaking to someone who works here, they say they expect to run 6000 people to come here tomorrow. As the queen has said in her speech, it has been quite a difficult year for the royalfamily, a been quite a difficult year for the royal family, a bumper year, been quite a difficult year for the royalfamily, a bumperyear, but been quite a difficult year for the royalfamily, a bumper year, but the fa ct royalfamily, a bumper year, but the fact they expect so many people shows they still have a lot of popularity with the british public. Adr popularity with the british public. A dr thomson year. Got a queue, Charlotte Gallagher and john mcmanus. Thank you, Charlotte Gallagher. The queen will use her Christmas Day message to say that 2019 has been quite bumpy. It comes after a year of intense political debate over brexit, as well as a number of personal events affecting the royal family. Her majesty said the path of course is not always sooth and may at times this year have felt quite bumpy, but small steps can make a world of difference. im joined now by the daily mails robert hardman, author of the book queen of the world. Thanks so much forjoining us on christmas eve. Very good news to see the duke of edinburgh walk out of hospital himself . Yes, and to have him back in the family fold in good time, because for the royalfamily they do lots of christmas celebrations on christmas eve, the evening of christmas eve, so perhaps there is an element of it being an being a precautionary measure, maybe the hospital treatment was designed to get it over and admit in time for christmas. Is there any word on why he is taken to hospital . Is your correspondent pointed out, these details are a private matter as your correspondent pointed out. The duke has made a number of visits to hospital in recent years, he is 98, it is not wholly surprising that these things happen from time to time. The one Common Thread is fuss, lots of people have commented on the fact that he gets these things over and done with and gets back to normal. It comes as we are hearing a little better about what the queens christmas message will entail. She talks about this bumper year, that is an admission that things have not been completely smooth this year . The message is a lwa ys smooth this year . The message is always very nuanced, it is the one speech the queen makes every year entirely off her own bat if you like, not on the advice of ministers. People will read lots of things into them, they will be her own words, she had spoken about the fa ct own words, she had spoken about the fact that it has been a bumper year for the house of windsor, the royal family, for obvious reasons. The dukes car crash at the beginning of the year, the unhappiness of the suffixes, the interview by the duke of york, and the constitution, the monarchy being dragged into the brexit chewing and throwing with the prorogation of parliament which turned out to not be allowed. The brexit toing and froing. 0ne turned out to not be allowed. The brexit toing and froing. One could say it has certainly been an eventful year for the royal family, at times turbulence. It is not the unassailable bliss let it is not the annus horribilis of 1992, but it has had its times. Would you expect Prince Andrew to be seen in public, for example going to Church Tomorrow . We just dont know. If he goes to church there will be much comment on that, if he doesnt, there will be much comment. In a sense, it is a story either way. The focus of the day always starts with the scenes outside sandringham church, some delightful family scenes in the family walking through the crowd, but the focal point will be the queens broadcast in full. We have had that taster earlier but i think there will be a lot more. I like the fact that the queen is touching on the 75th anniversary of d day, i think we will see more about the debt of gratitude we had to the wartime generation, that is my hunch. Briefly, a comment on the photo of the queen that has appeared, that it does not have a photo of harry and meghan, is it a paring down of the royalfamily, a sign they might step away from public life . It is an annual tradition, who is in and who is out . These things move around, the queens study is crammed with photos of every member of the family, you cant possibly fit them all in to the single screenshot. The fact the reasons do not include queen of the world, for example, reasons do not include queen of the world, for example, the reasons do not include queen of the world, for example, the fact that it does not involve the sussexes, the advanced photographs are generally focused on the four generations, it is reflected in the photos, it is that simple. It is not that somebody is out of favour because the photo was not behind the queen, you can rest assured it is in a prominent place in the study, we just cant see it. A prominent place in the study, we just cant see it. Thank you for interrupting your christmas preparations, robert harman. Royal commentator Caroline Aston is on the line from redlands. Many people will welcome the sight of Prince Philip returning to his family in time for christmas . He has been under the radarfor christmas . He has been under the radar for awhile, christmas . He has been under the radarfor awhile, he was remarkably upright but he now has face of an extremely elderly man, but wonderful to see him and that he will be the way for the rest of the family. There was some comment that none of his family, publicly at least, visited him in hospital . That is in keeping with the man. We are looking at the iron duke, mark two, no face about anything he had googled he had the severe bladder infection into thousand and two. He took a battering in january with that car accident. It has left it more shaken than we would perhaps like him to know. The iron duke will go on. Why does he make surging in his home . Know. The iron duke will go on. Why does he make surging in his home7m was purchased back in the 1860s for the future king edward vii. It has a lwa ys the future king edward vii. It has always been a go to place where the royalfamily always been a go to place where the royal family can celebrate an ordinary family with their wonderful christmas lunch tomorrow, and this evening, the opening of the presents on christmas eve. Amazing in a way to see he is still flowing by helicopter, that shows you something about the state of his health, physically. What about the queen acknowledging it has been a bumper year . Is your previous speaker said, my thoughts for her this year is this, she has never departed from her iconic vow when she said she dedicated her life, however long or short it might be, to service of her people, and she has never really gone away from the vow. It must have saddened her as she had seen her own family perhaps not quite carry out their duties in the way she might have wished, not to perhaps have followed her shining example. I think the biggest change of her record breaking rain is the fact that at the beginning of hg were merely expected, for the accident of birth that made you royal, but looking through the royal keyhole, asi looking through the royal keyhole, as i say, they now have to earn respect and never, ever blur the line between your public and private roles, which a certain prince has turned rather badly. Do you think there is a move within the royal family to want to pay things down . We keep hearing that but are not necessarily seeing that yet . |j we keep hearing that but are not necessarily seeing that yet . I know this was quite a hot potato right back at the time of the Diamond Jubilee celebrations. I echo what was said about the choice of photographs. Nothing is done by accident, but one memory came to me, one of the images of the queens own youth were those wartime years when her father george youth were those wartime years when herfather george vi, her youth were those wartime years when her father george vi, her mother queen elizabeth, her sister, princess margaret, there were lots of photographs issued of them is the idealfamily at of photographs issued of them is the ideal family at the heart of the nation. I must admit, the photo coverage of the duke and duchess of cambridgejust lately coverage of the duke and duchess of cambridge just lately have rather smacked of that. Here is this family, togetherness, going to sandringham. In my opinion it rather isolated the sussexes, who are not having christmas and, who knows, great grandma and great grandpa quite elderly so perhaps it is an opportunity for them all to have been together that the sussexes might later regret having missed. Caroline aston, family gatherings are never easy, of course, never totally straightforward. But welcome news for the royal family to see the duke of edinburgh back in sandringham. Thank you very much indeed. Borisjohnson and Jeremy Corbyn have thanked nhs staff and other Public Servants who work through the holidays in their christmas messages. The Prime Minister also said the uk stood in solidarity with christians around the world who faced persecution for their beliefs. Mr corbyn said it had been a difficult year for many but christmas was a chance to reflect on hopes for a better world. The headlines on bbc news. The duke of edinburgh has left hospital where he was being treated for what officials described as a pre existing condition. The queen will use her Christmas Day message to say the past year has been quite bumpy , adding that small steps can heal divisions. Thousands of volunteer Fire Fighters will spend Christmas Day battling wildfires that are still ravaging australia. Jane is at the bbc sports centre. It morning. In the last hour its been confirmed that ben stokes will not be at England Training ahead of their test match series against south africa because his father has fallen ill and hell be at his hospital bedside. Stokes father ged is said to be suffering a serious illness and was taken to hospital injohannesburg on monday where hes in a critical condition. Englands first test against south africa starts on boxing day. Adam mountford is injohannesburg. Ben stokes father ged was admitted to hospital and janice berg yesterday after suffering what is described as a serious illness and remains in critical condition. 64 and was an International Rugby player representing new zealand in the 80s. Ben stokes will net practice scheduled in pretoria this afternoon to be at his fathers bedside. England have already had a disrupted build up to the series, with three players missing warm up games because of flu like statements. Symptoms. The government says it wont rule out taking further steps if football authorities in england fail to deal with racism. It follows Sundays Premier League match between tottenham and chelsea when play was stopped after Antonio Rudiger said he heard monkey noises. Tottenham have studied hours of cctv footage with lip readers to find the alleged perpetrators, but their findings were inconclusive. Tottenham Managerjose Mourinho gave his thoughts on the issue of racism in football. Do we need help . Yes. But Society Needs help. We need to eradicate. Is that the correct word . Yes. We need to eradicate any form of discrimination, and in this case, we are speaking about racism. And, yes, football needs help. But Society Needs help. well, the Sheffield United manager, chris wilder agreed with mourinho and said fans shouldnt hold back in calling out racism when they see it in the stands. I have always thought it was always society, attached to football teams and grounds. If you are sitting next to somebody who is doing it, just out them, out the people next to you. Be brave and police your own football ground. The former newcastle and Crystal Palace manager alan pardew has been appointed as the new head coach of netherlands side den haag. Pardew has signed a deal until the end of the season and will have chris powell as his assistant. Den haag are currently second bottom in the dutch league. The newjob for powell will not effect his role as a coach with the fa. The two time darts champion Gary Anderson survived a huge scare to progress to the fourth round of the pdc world championship. The scotsman was 3 1 down to ryan searle before fighting back to win in a deciding set. There were also victories for adrian lewis and jeffrey de zwaan who beat dave chisnall. The solheim cup winner bronte law has said that prize money in womens golf needs to increase if the game is to progress. The british golfer was a rookie in the Successful Team which beat the usa on the final putt at gleneagles in september. An increase in prize money is always good, it gets us that little bit closer to where the men are, that is great. I think we have to grown the game ourselves. From our side we cant focus too much on what the men are doing. I think we can encourage more participation in and aside and more participation in and aside and more birds around the game and more people watching womens golf than naturally those two go hand in hand. And finally diving in football has been an on going issue for some years now but for two teams in tanzania, they were left with no choice. Players were forced to drop to the ground when a swarm of bees invaded the pitch it led to the match being stopped briefly for a few moments, as players and fans tried to find cover they were trying to get it out of their hair, running around, lying flat on the ground, even linesman became affected, which obviously meant play had to be stopped. They bulged off eventually. 0h, meant play had to be stopped. They bulged off eventually. Oh, dear thats all the sport for now. We will be back in the next hour. Doctors are warning of the dangers posed by small button batteries that can be found in toys, Christmas Lights and musica