The Queen is 'being monitored' for Covid-19 symptoms after Prince Charles tested positive for the virus less than 48 hours after meeting her, royal officials have said.
The heir to the throne is understood to have spent time with the Queen on Tuesday, February 8 after attending an investiture service at Windsor Castle.
A royal official would not confirm whether the Queen, who is 95, has tested positive or negative for the virus, citing medical privacy. Under current guidelines, as a close contact of Prince Charles, the Queen would not be required to self isolate, but would expected to carry out lateral flow tests for the next five days.
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Prince Charles, 73, is self isolating after testing positive for the virus yesterday, February 10, with a Clarence House official confirming the news shortly before he was due to attend a statue unveiling in Winchester.
In a message delivered to waiting crowds he said 'I am desperately disappointed as I was so looking forward to marking this historic occasion with you. I hope very much that I will be able to visit at a future time but for today please accept my most heartfelt apologies and my very best wishes.'
Prince Charles has been triple vaccinated, and has previously contracted Covid-19 once before in March 2020 when he became the first member of the royal family, and one of the earliest high profile public figures, to test positive for the virus in the first months of the pandemic.
It's not clear whether he is currently experiencing any symptoms. His wife, Camilla, has tested negative for the virus, and on Thursday continued her scheduled public engagements, telling one person during a visit that her husband was finding the experience of testing positive for a second time 'a bit tiresome,' per The Telegraph.
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The evening before Prince Charles' positive test he and Camilla attended an event for the British Asian Trust, where he was pictured alongside guests including Chancellor Rishi Sunak and Home Secretary Priti Patel.
The Queen is not publicly known to have contracted Covid-19, and spent lockdown in 2020 and 2021 in a household bubble at Windsor Castle with a small group of aides and, prior to his death in March last year, Prince Philip.
The news comes a week after the monarch celebrated her Platinum Jubilee, marking 70 years since she ascended to the throne following the death of her father, King George VI.
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Topics: The Queen, Royal Family, UK News
Hannah Smith