Prince Charles has contracted coronavirus and may have been contagious just 24 hours after last seeing his 93-year-old mother the Queen, it was revealed today.
The Prince of Wales, 71, is in self-isolation at Balmoral Castle in Scotland with the Duchess of Cornwall, who is without any symptoms for the virus, which has killed 422 in the UK so far.
Charles has fallen ill just a fortnight after meeting coronavirus-stricken Prince Albert of Monaco, who tested positive five days ago after he sat opposite the Prince of Wales at a WaterAid event in London on March 10.
Prince of Wales was last at Buckingham Palace on March 12 for investitures, where he ‘briefly’ saw the Queen, and his illness will raise fears for the health for elderly royals including his mother and Prince Philip, who are together at Windsor Castle. William and Kate are at Anmer Hall in Norfolk, while Harry and Meghan are back in Canada.
A Clarence House spokesman said: ‘The Prince of Wales has tested positive for Coronavirus. He has been displaying mild symptoms but otherwise remains in good health and has been working from home throughout the last few days as usual.
‘The Duchess of Cornwall has also been tested but does not have the virus. In accordance with Government and medical advice, the Prince and the Duchess are now self-isolating at home in Scotland’.
The spokesman said it was impossible to say where he caught it from because of the large number of public engagements he has carried out in ‘recent weeks’ – but it will raise questions over whether he got it from Albert.
A source said Charles’ doctor’s most conservative estimate was that the prince was contagious on March 13 – 24 hours after he last saw his mother.
A Buckingham Palace spokesman has said: ‘Her Majesty The Queen remains in good health. The Queen last saw The Prince of Wales briefly on the morning of March 12 and is following all the appropriate advice with regard to her welfare’.
Charles was last seen with the Queen on March 9 at the Commonwealth Service at Westminster Abbey and saw her again on March 12 – 24 hours before his doctor claims he became contagious
Charles (left) sat across from Prince Albert of Monaco at an event in London on March 10 – Albert tested positive on March 20 but Charles’ team say it is impossible to know how he caught it after a flurry of public engagements this month
Prince Charles has been continuing to carry out public engagements despite the coronavirus crisis – but has avoided shaking hands, shown here using a namaste gesture at the Prince’s Trust Awards 2020 on March 11
Until he fell ill, the heir to the throne has been continuing to carry out public engagements despite the coronavirus crisis – but has avoided shaking hands, instead using a namaste gesture.
But despite avoiding close contact with people he has caught Covid-19 – and it came days after a member of Buckingham Palace staff tested positive for coronavirus.
The Royal Family appeared to have already prepared for the eventuality that one of them could be diagnosed with coronavirus, having been split up across Britain – away from London.
The Queen is with Prince Philip at Windsor Castle, Prince William and Kate are at Amner Hall in Norfolk, and Charles and Camilla are at Balmoral in Aberdeenshire.
Charles’s last public engagement was on March 12, but he did have a number of private meetings with Highgrove and Duchy individuals, all of whom have been made aware.
They added that Charles has not seen the Queen since before March 13. A small number of people living and working at Birkhall are remaining at the residence and self-isolating.
The source said the prince and the duchess remained in good spirits, and the prince was up and about and not bedridden.
Medical advice is that it is unlikely to escalate into a more serious case. Charles has spoken to his sons the Duke of Cambridge and the Duke of Sussex, as well as the Queen.
His symptoms are said to mild and not expected to get worse, a source said.
Last November, the Prince of Wales was seen with painfully swollen hands and feet during the first day of his royal tour in India, sparking concerns for his health.
As he removed his shoes to step into a Sikh temple in New Delhi, the 71-year-old’s fingers and toes were considerably red and inflamed.
But the heir to the throne dismissed any apparent discomfort, which may have been caused by the nine-hour flight to South Asia.
And in 2018, Prince Charles admitted he was no longer in the shape he once was.
As he approached his 70th birthday, the royal joked that he knows ‘only too well’ the inevitable physical decline that comes with reaching such a milestone.
‘I don’t know about you,’ he told a crowd of septuagenarians in Brisbane, Australia at the time, ‘but now bits of me keep falling off at regular intervals.’
Charles has, certainly, suffered a catalogue of injuries over the years.
When he met boxer Amir Khan in 2015, the pair compared battle wounds — and it turned out Charles had done himself more damage in his lifetime than the former world champion had suffered in the ring.
In recent years, his catalogue of injuries include a swollen eye caused by dust from a tree, to a cracked rib sustained in a tumble from a horse and a non-cancerous growth which was removed from his face in 2008.