The private hospital treating the King and Kate Middleton offers its own concierge, meat from Smithfields market and fish from Cornish boats, while counting Prince Philip, Liz Taylor and John F Kennedy as former patients.
The King is preparing to have treatment for an enlarged prostate after today checking in at the London Clinic, where he visited his daughter-in-law Princess Kate on her ward before his own operation.
The private clinic in Marylebone has been the go-to hospital for the royal family over many decades – while also providing care for big-name politicians and celebrities.
The Princess of Wales has been a patient since Wednesday last week after having abdominal surgery, while Charles is now undergoing a corrective procedure after being diagnosed with the benign prostate condition.
The King has been there before – as the then-Prince of Wales, he opened the London Clinic’s physiotherapy department in 1989.
King Charles arrives at the London Clinic in Marylebone this morning for treatment
The service on offer to patients at the private hospital – including meals brought on silver trolleys – has been compared to that of a 5-star hotel
Meals provided include fish from Cornish boats and meat from Smithfield market
Further royal visits included Princess Margaret unveiling the MRI unit in 1991 and the late Queen launching a new cancer unit in 2010.
The clinic, opened by the then-Duke and Duchess of York in 1932, offers patients their own concierge service while the hospital’s executive chef heads a kitchen serving serves fish from Cornish boats and meat from Smithfields Market.
Head chef Paul O’Brien, awarded in 2021 for supporting patients during the coronavirus pandemic, leads a team which provides customised meals for patients that also source ingredients from Home Counties farms.
A concierge can help patients arrange travel and accommodation while also booking tours, theatre shows and restaurants in the capital.
Kate is not expected to resume royal duties until after Easter – and one former London Clinic patient advised her to enjoy the peace, the privacy and the cake.
Dimple Mistry, who also had abdominal surgery and was at the London Clinic for five nights in 2021, told the Mail: ‘Far from feeling like a hospital, it was like staying at a 5-star hotel.
‘Kate will be well looked after, with food so good I would happily go back to the hospital for that alone.’
She described ‘plentiful and fresh’ hot food arriving on silver trolleys, bathrooms stocked with Molton Brown toiletries and staff who offered to help wash her hair.
She added: ‘The blinds and room temperature was were controlled by a remote control and the ceiling was full of stars which I could switch on in a heartbeat.
‘The care itself was also significantly better, with staff having the luxury of time to introduce themselves every time they entered the room.
Queen Camilla (centre) was also seen arriving at the London Clinic this morning
The London Clinic, where the Princess of Wales is being treated after undergoing abdominal surgery, first opened in 1932. Above: Police outside the hospital as Kate undergoes treatment
The Princess of Wales Kate Middleton, pictured here visiting Factory Works in Birmingham in October 23, has been a patient at the London Clinic since Wednesday last week
The London Clinic has previously treated Prince Philip. The late Duke of Edinburgh is pictured above leaving the private hospital in 2013
Queen Elizabeth II is pictured leaving the London Clinic after visiting her husband Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, on June 15, 2013
‘The best part of all of this were the afternoons, when I could call down to the kitchen and order myself cake every day.
‘I’d happily go back just to experience this type of service – and the exhaustive food selection – again.
‘Overall the delightful menu paired with efficient nursing and attentive consultants made for a great week.’
Prince Philip was admitted to the clinic for what was described as ‘abdominal investigations’ in 2013, while previously Princess Margaret was treated there in 1980 to have a benign skin lesion removed.
In 1947, future President Kennedy – then a US Congressman – was diagnosed with Addison’s disease at the clinic.
Hollywood actress Taylor had a knee operation there in January 1963 after falling on a film set while making the movie The V.I.P.s at Shepperton Studios in Surrey.
Other former patients include former Labour Prime Minister Clement Attlee, who was admitted in 1939 – when Leader of the Opposition – for surgery on his prostate.
Another former PM, Conservative Anthony Eden, had his gall bladder removed at the cinic in 1953 when he was Foreign Secretary – and current Foreign Secretary David Cameron, PM from 2010 until 2016, was born there in 1966.
Hollywood star Elizabeth Taylor underwent a knee operation at The London Clinic in January 1963. Above: Taylor leaving the hospital with her leg bandaged
Princess Margaret was treated there in 1980 to have a benign skin lesion removed
Future Labour PM Clement Attlee – then the Leader of the Opposition – is seen recovering in bed at The London Clinic in 1939 after having surgery on his prostate
Former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet was arrested there in 1998 for crimes against humanity.
The London Clinic was the 1930s 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.
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.
The latest inspection by the Care Quality Commission, 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, diagnostics and screening, treatment of disease, disorder or injury, management of supply of blood and blood-derived products.
US President John F Kennedy, pictured here with the Queen during a state dinner at Buckingham Palace in 1961, was diagnosed with Addison’s Disease at the London Clinic in 1947
Lord Cameron, former Prime Minister and now Foreign Secretary, was born at the London Clinic in October 1966
The clinic at 20 Devonshire Place has a leading cancer centre which hosts patients for chemotherapy, radiotherapy and other treatments.
It boasts of being able to provide ‘CyberKnife’ radiotherapy for prostate cancer patients, ‘SpyGlass’ technology for patients needing an endoscopy and CAR-T immunotherapy for cancer sufferers.
And in 2019, a specialist centre for robotic surgery was opened.
The building also has seven main operating theatres and three additional theatres, plus six specialty wards for surgeries in urology, gynaecology, thoracic surgery, orthopaedics and spinal procedures.