Prince Charles, heir to the British throne has tested positive for coronavirus after being checked for the disease in Scotland.
The 71-year-old Prince of Wales is reported to have a “mild” form of the illness that has so far infected more than 8,200 people in the UK, with 435 dying with coronavirus.
Charles is self-isolating at his Aberdeenshire home, Birkhall, with a source Royal, reported in the Daily Mail, saying his “doctor’s most conservative estimate was that the prince was contagious on March 13 – 24 hours after ‘briefly’ meeting his 93-year-old mother the Queen.”
Queen and Philip face nervous wait
The monarch and Prince Philip now face “a nervous wait at Windsor Castle”, where they were “helicoptered to Windsor from Sandringham last Thursday”, reports the Mail, adding they “are being looked after by her two favourite staff, who are part of a skeleton team of just eight.”
More than 100 other workers “have all been told to go home to protect both the head of state and themselves.”
A Buckingham Palace spokesman said: “Her Majesty remains in good health” and is “following all the appropriate advice with regard to her welfare.”
Charles travelled to Scotland with symptoms
The 93-year-old Queen is in “voluntary isolation in Windsor”, according to the Telegraph who report Charles arrived in Scotland “on Sunday night [March 22] after experiencing ‘mild symptoms’ which were not sufficient to raise alarm bells about his pre-planned travel”.
He is said to “be in good spirits and has not been bedridden with illness” and is isolating separately with Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, at Birkhall – a residence Charles inherited from the Queen Mother who described it as a “little big house”.
Camilla has not tested positive for the virus after she and Charles had NHS tests for the virus in Aberdeenshire, “where they met the criteria required for testing” with NHS Scotland saying the Prince of Wales qualified because of his age and symptoms.
The Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced a virtual lockdown on all but essential travel on Monday, shortly after Charles and Camilla arrived in Scotland.
‘We should all be responsible’ – Sturgeon
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said she would not comment specifically on Charles when she was asked about the government’s instruction to people not to travel to the Scottish countryside to try and escape Covid-19.
“We want people to behave responsibly, we don’t want people to see the Highlands and islands of our country as places where they can outrun the virus,” said Sturgeon.
“Obviously there are places where people have homes in Scotland and people will choose to go to their homes, but we should all be responsible.”
Royal connection to Charles’ infection
A spokesman for Charles said it was impossible to know how or when he became infected given the number of public engagements he performs. However, a photo taken on March 10 shows the Prince of Wales at a London event and seated directly opposite Prince Albert of Monaco who tested positive for coronavirus on March 20.
