Former US president George HW Bush and his wife Barbara have both been taken to hospital, according to a family spokesman.

Mr Bush, 92, has been put into an intensive care unit for treatment to a respiratory problem brought on by pneumonia.

He is said to be in a stable condition and resting comfortably after a procedure to clear his airway.

Spokesman Jim McGrath said Mr Bush's 91-year-old wife Barbara has also been admitted as a precaution after experiencing fatigue and coughing.

The couple are being looked after at Houston Methodist Hospital in the Texas Medical Center.


They celebrated their 72nd wedding anniversary last week.

It is understood Mr Bush - the 41st president of the United States from 1989 to 1993 - was not expecting to attend Donald Trump's inauguration on Friday due to his health.

He has twice before been admitted to the same hospital.

Mr Bush spent two months there in November 2012 for bronchitis and was admitted again in November 2014 for breathing problems.

He received treatment at a hospital in Maine in 2015 after falling at his summer home and breaking a bone in his neck.

He is the father of former president George W Bush and ex-Florida governor Jeb Bush, who sought the 2016 Republican presidential nomination.

Watch live coverage of the inauguration on Sky News from 3pm and Sky Atlantic from 4pm on 20 January. Adam Boulton is in the US presenting a special Sky News programme - Trump: America's President - every day at midnight from now until Friday.

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