LONDON: Camilla, the wife of Prince Charles, has tested positive for the coronavirus, four days after her husband was reported to be reinfected, Clarence House, their royal household, said Monday.
The announcement is likely to fan further concerns about the health of Queen Elizabeth II, who was in contact with Charles, her eldest son, two days before he tested positive. Buckingham Palace has not commented on the queen’s condition since last week, when it said she was not exhibiting symptoms of Covid-19.
The palace has declined to say whether the queen, who is 95, had been tested for the virus. She was scheduled to hold video calls with foreign dignitaries from Windsor Castle this week, but the palace has not said whether they will go ahead.
Clarence House has been similarly circumspect with details about Camilla, who is known as the Duchess of Cornwall. It did not describe the severity of her symptoms, after saying last week that Charles was suffering mild symptoms. Charles and Camilla have both had two doses, and booster shots, of a coronavirus vaccine.
“Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Cornwall has tested positive for Covid-19 and is self-isolating,” Clarence House said in a statement. An official said the household would not provide a running commentary on her medical condition.
Charles, who is 73 and the heir to the throne, canceled a visit to Winchester at the last minute on Thursday after testing positive. He suffered a bout of Covid early in the pandemic, months before a vaccine was available. Camilla, 74, tested negative for the virus last week and continued with her engagements.
The royal family has been extremely guarded in its discussion of health issues involving family members. Prince William, the eldest son of Charles, contracted Covid in April 2020 around the same time as his father, but the palace did not disclose it at the time, and the news only filtered out months later.
Buckingham Palace said little about the queen’s condition last October when she fell ill and canceled multiple public engagements. She was briefly hospitalised, a fact that the palace confirmed only after a London tabloid broke the news. People close to the palace described it as a case of “exhaustion.”
The palace has not confirmed that the queen, who turns 96 in April, has been fully vaccinated. The queen and her late husband, Prince Philip, did get a first dose at Windsor Castle soon after vaccines were available.
The queen thrust Camilla into the news last week for happier reasons. In a statement issued on the 70th anniversary of her accession to the throne, the queen said she hoped that when Charles succeeded her, Camilla would be known as queen — a major endorsement that the couple had long sought from the monarch.
“We are deeply conscious of the honor represented by my mother’s wish,” Charles said in a statement. “As we have sought together to serve and support Her Majesty and the people of our communities, my darling wife has been my own steadfast support throughout.”
