The health of Queen Elizabeth, 96, is being closely monitored amid fears that her son Prince Charles may have infected her with COVID-19 when they met on Tuesday. The Mail says she will be tested for “several days,” even though the palace would not say if she had tested positive.
Prince Charles tested positive for COVID on Thursday during a routine screening, and is not believed to have been feeling seriously unwell. He met with his mother Tuesday at Buckingham Palace after conducting an investiture for a British chef who suffers from Parkinson’s disease. He may well have been infectious at the time.
If Charles has given his mother COVID, it will illustrate just how easily the virulent Omicron strain of the disease can overwhelm even the most cautious approach to preventing infection. The queen has severely limited her in-person contacts, and the small group of around 20 staff who still work directly with her—nicknamed “HMS Bubble”—are regularly tested and work in revolving shifts, exclusively taking over from one another.
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In conversations with staffers at the various royal palaces yesterday there was a clear effort to telegraph a sense of “business as usual,” but there is little doubt that beneath the calm exterior there is huge concern that Charles may have brought the illness into the queen’s private apartments.
However, there was no sense that Charles was seen as guilty of any dereliction of duty or carelessness, rather it seemed impossible to blame anything other than bad luck.
The queen is thought to be triple-vaccinated, is believed to have had her most recent shot in October, and by all accounts has a robust immune system. Nevertheless, she has had a string of health scares in recent months, including a hospital stay, and the last thing the palace needs is for her to contract the virus.
Palace sources said the situation would be monitored, and reiterated a line often used during royal health scares; that they did not want to give a running commentary on Her Majesty’s health. The palace would not wish to make itself hostage to fortune when an infection can take several days to manifest itself.
The queen may not be the only person Charles may have put in danger: The court circular shows that on Tuesday he met with the celebrated chef Fergus Henderson, who has Parkinson’s disease, and is therefore in an at-risk category.
For the queen, this is just the latest in a line of health scares since the death of her husband last year. After initially appearing to bounce back well from her bereavement, she was ordered off work and spent a night in hospital last year, pulled out of Remembrance Sunday event for the first time in over 20 years, and has since then only conducted very modest and small in-person engagements.
The Daily Beast has contacted Buckingham Palace to request an update on the queen’s health.
