Prince Philip asked Prince Charles to visit him to discuss the future of the Royal Family, according to an insider

According to Queen Elizabeth's former press secretary Dickie Arbiter, the 99-year-old royal would have requested that his son pay a visit to discuss the future of the family.

In an interview on True Royalty TV's The Royal Beat, Dickie said: "I think it was at the request of the Duke that the Prince of Wales visited.

"To lay the ground. Look the man is 99, he is in with an infection.

"My guess is that he will come out, he will walk out and go back to Windsor.

"But eventually he is going to die and he was just saying to Charles, 'one day you're going to be the leading man of the family.'"

It was confirmed last week that Prince Philip would remain in hospital for "several days" as he continues to recuperate.

A Buckingham Palace statement read: "The Duke of Edinburgh remains at King Edward VII's Hospital where he is receiving medical attention for an infection. He is comfortable and responding to treatment but is not expected to leave hospital for several days."

His son Prince Edward revealed the Duke of Edinburgh is "looking forward" to getting out of hospital soon but is "a bit" frustrated about staying.

The Earl of Wessex said: "As far as I'm aware, well I did speak to them the other day, so he's a lot better thank you very much indeed, and he's looking forward to getting out, which is the most positive thing ... Just a bit [frustrated]. I think that gets to all of us, and then you can only watch the clock so many times and the walls are only so interesting. We’ve had some brilliant and lovely messages from all sorts of people and we really appreciate that and so does he, I’ve been passing them on. It’s fantastic, thank you."