Charles has cancelled his skiing trip

He is thought to have injured himself laying hedges in the gardens at his Gloucestershire estate, Highgrove.

The 54-year-old prince will be admitted to hospital on 28 March and could take weeks to fully recover.

Charles has cancelled plans to ski in the Swiss Alps at Easter - although he had already said he would not go to Klosters if there was a war with Iraq.

HERNIAS Appear as a lump when the intestines are pushed through the abdominal muscle wall Feel like "something giving way" followed groin pain Can be caused by heavy lifting, coughing, vigorous exercise or even sex Suffered by many sportsmen including Paul Gascoigne, Alan Shearer and Jeremy Guscott Treated by more than 100,000 NHS operations every year Click here for full medical notes

In 2002 his annual skiing trip was cut short following the death of his grandmother, the Queen Mother.

And in 2001, it was cancelled because of the outbreak of foot-and-mouth in the UK.

Charles went walking in the Lake District as soon as the worst effects of the disease were over.

And on Monday he returned to the same bed and breakfast, 18th Century farmhouse Yew Tree Farm, in the village of Rosthwaite, near Borrowdale.

In August 2001 the Prince of Wales needed hospital treatment after being knocked unconscious when he fell from his horse during a polo match

Six months earlier he fractured a bone in his shoulder when he fell off a horse during a fox hunt.