Princess Eugenie has thanked NHS staff for saving her father-in-law’s life after he was in intensive care with coronavirus.

Eugenie and husband Jack Brooksbank were warned to “prepare for the worst” when Jack’s father George Brooksbank was put on a ventilator for five weeks.

But the 71-year-old recovered from the life-threatening battle with the virus, and Eugenie posted a video on Instagram on Saturday thanking the staff who worked to keep him alive.

She said: “I just wanted to say a huge thank you to everyone at the Brompton hospital for what you’ve done in saving my father-in-law’s life.

“George came back home to us the other day, so happy and as the miracle man, as he called himself.

“And from the bottom of my husband and my heart, we just want to thank you for everything you’ve done on the front line, for risking your lives and those close to you and just making sure we can all be safe and sleep well at night.

“So thank you so much and thank you for giving us all hope, thank you for changing the course of this pandemic in making sure that we’re all happy in what we’re doing.

“So I wish everyone all the best and thank you so much for everything you do.”

Accompanying the video was a short statement, which read:”The Covid-19 pandemic has been a difficult time for so many and I want to say a HUGE thank you to every frontline worker who have kept us all safe and well, whilst sacrificing so much. ⁣
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“In particular, I’d like to send an enormous thank you to all the teams who saved my father in law, George’s life during his stays at St Mary’s, Chelsea and Royal Brompton Hospital after he contracted the virus.⁣”
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It added: “I can’t begin to express the thanks I have to you all for bringing him back to our family, my husband Jack, his brother Tom and his beloved wife Nicola. We are forever grateful.”

Mr Brooksbank, whose son Jack married the Queen’s grand-daughter in 2018, fell ill in mid-March after a trip to France and ended up being in hospital for nine weeks, said a spokesman for Eugenie’s mother Sarah, Duchess of York.

The retired chartered accountant and company director was on a ventilator for five weeks at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in London.

After a tracheotomy, his condition gradually improved and he was moved to a ward at the Royal Brompton Hospital which specialised in heart and lung conditions in people recovering from Covid-19.

He then underwent a further period of rehabilitation at an institution in Roehampton.

Mr Brooksbank also thanked staff for the “incredible” treatment he had received.