Buckingham Palace confirmed today that the Queen has tested positive for COVID-19.
Her Majesty, who is 95 years old, is suffering from mild cold-like symptoms but expects to resume light duties at Windsor Castle this week.
She will continue to receive medical care and will adhere to all safety precautions.
A number of cases have been diagnosed in the Windsor Castle team, according to reports.
The Queen held virtual audiences from her Berkshire home last week, and on Wednesday she met with incoming Defence Services Secretary Major General Eldon Millar and his predecessor Rear Admiral James Macleod.
The Queen is believed to have received three vaccinations, but she has been on a doctor’s order to rest since mid-October, after canceling a series of engagements and spending a night in hospital for preliminary tests.
She is thought to have spent time with her eldest son, the Prince of Wales, on Tuesday, February 8th, when he hosted an investiture at her Windsor Castle home, and he was diagnosed with Covid a few days later but recovered quickly.
Prince Charles, 73, and the Princess Royal, 71, made their first public appearance together on Friday at St James’s Palace to present The Queen’s Anniversary Prizes for higher and further education.
The Duchess of Cornwall has also tested positive for Covid, with Clarence House confirming that Camilla was self-isolating on Monday, February 14th.
It comes after the Queen previously stated that she was having mobility issues. The monarch, who was standing with the assistance of a walking stick in an ITV News video of her in-person audience, pointed to her left leg or foot and said, “Well, as you can see, I can’t move.”
Her Majesty is said to have been slightly stiff, rather than being afflicted with an illness or injury.
The Queen celebrated the start of her Platinum Jubilee year earlier this month by hosting a tea party at Sandringham the day before.
She was also seen with a cane that belonged to her late husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, who died in April 2021 at the age of 99.
Her Majesty has spent much of the pandemic in the safety of Windsor Castle, surrounded by ‘HMS Bubble,’ her dwindling household of dedicated servants.
The Queen is the world’s most recent monarch to catch Covid. On February 9, Denmark’s Queen Margrethe, 82, and Spain’s King Felipe VI, 54, both tested positive for the illness.
COVID-19 positive royals in the United Kingdom
After contracting COVID-19 at the start of the pandemic in March 2020, heir to the throne Charles tested positive for the virus for the second time in February 2021.
He was experiencing mild symptoms at the time and had lost his sense of smell and taste. At Birkhall, on the Balmoral estate in Aberdeenshire, he went into seclusion.
The virus was discovered in the Duke of Cambridge, now 39, in April 2020, but it was not made public until seven months later, according to The Sun newspaper, because Prince William did not want to alarm the nation.
The Duke, who continued to hold phone and online engagements while isolated in Norfolk, was treated by royal doctors, according to the newspaper, but he was hit “pretty hard” by the virus and struggled to breathe at one point.
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Vice Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence, the Princess Royal’s husband, tested positive in December 2021, preventing him and Anne from joining the Queen on Christmas Day at Windsor Castle.
Princess Michael of Kent, 77, who is married to the Queen’s cousin Prince Michael of Kent, was diagnosed with Covid-19 in November 2020 and experienced severe symptoms. She is thought to have suffered from poor lungs as a child, making her more vulnerable to the disease.