Two senior members of the Royal Family will be visiting the region on Thursday.

The Princess Royal is coming to the University of York to attend the spring meeting of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, of which she is the patron.

And the Prince of Wales will be going to Castle Howard following an engagement in Manchester.

The Prince, who is patron of the Castle Howard Arboretum Trust, will visit the Arboretum and tour Ray Wood on the estate as part of the stately home's 300th anniversary celebrations.

The visits come as two other members of the Royal Family recover from health problems.

Prince William has undergone an operation on a broken finger which he fractured while playing rugby at Eton.

The 16-year-old Prince was admitted to the Pulvertaft Hand Centre at Derbyshire Royal Infirmary, where the broken left index finger was "stabilised with pins and wires", a St James's Palace spokeswoman said.

Princess Margaret was today "in good spirits" despite being bedridden after burning her feet in a scalding bath while on holiday in the Caribbean.

Buckingham Palace insisted it was too early to speculate on whether she would be well enough to attend the wedding of her nephew Prince Edward and Sophie Rhys-Jones on June 19.

The Palace confirmed on Saturday that the Queen's younger sister had scalded her feet in an accident at her holiday home on the island of Mustique.

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