Prince Philip's painful pull out

9 months ago 28th Jan 14:00

Britain's Prince Philip had to pull out of his first royal engagement of 2009 because of a back problem.

Queen Elizabeth's husband, 87, was due to accompany the monarch on a visit to a primary school near their Sandringham residence in Norfolk, east England.

The duke has pulled a muscle in his back and would have been uncomfortable standing for an hour and walking around at the school

However, a painful back injury prevented The Duke of Edinburgh from attending.

A Buckingham Palace spokeswoman said: "The duke has pulled a muscle in his back and would have been uncomfortable standing for an hour and walking around at the school. He should be attending a lunch later and hasn't had any other engagements cancelled."

The queen kept her appointment with Flitcham Primary School. She stayed at the school for an hour, opening the school's new Information Technology classroom and observing children using the new machines.

Pupil Chloe Mayes , 10, said: "We were really excited and she looked really nice. She did not speak to everyone but she didn't have that much time. She was really quiet and she was not as big as we thought."