The Queen has tested positive for COVID-19, Buckingham Palace has confirmed.
The 95-year-old monarch, who is celebrating her 70th year on the British throne with an array of platinum jubilee celebrations, had mild symptoms but expected to continue light duties this week, the palace said on Sunday.
“The Queen has today tested positive for COVID,” a spokesman said.
“Her Majesty is experiencing mild, cold-like symptoms but expects to continue light duties at Windsor over the coming week.
“She will continue to receive medical attention and will follow all appropriate guidelines.”
Only last week an Ipsos poll found the Queen has grown in popularity and remains Britain’s favourite royal, while her second son Prince Andrew languishes at the bottom of the list.
#BREAKING Queen Elizabeth II tests positive for Covid-19 but symptoms 'mild': palace pic.twitter.com/AsvD4OI86W
— AFP News Agency (@AFP) February 20, 2022
The Queen had been in contact with her eldest son and heir, Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales, who tested positive for the second time last week.
The BBC said Charles, 73, had met his mother last Tuesday at Windsor Castle. A Buckingham Palace source said at that time the Queen was not displaying symptoms.
Her health was being monitored, they said. They disclosed no further details, including whether the monarch had tested positive to the virus.
Prince Charles wife, Camilla, 74, also tested positive days after the heir to the throne.
The announcement comes only weeks after the Queen became Britain’s longest-reigning monarch on February 6.
The BBC reports she carried out her first major public engagement for more than three months on the eve of her jubilee, meeting charity workers at Sandringham House.
The monarch’s health has been in the spotlight since she spent a night in hospital in October for an unspecified ailment and then was advised by her doctors to rest.
The Queen on Wednesday quipped to members of the royal household that she could not move much as she carried out her first in-person engagement since Charles tested positive.
-with AAP
