The Queen has revealed the toll that Covid took on her, as she spoke to patients and NHS staff about the “horrible” pandemic.
The 95-year-old monarch tested positive for coronavirus in February but carried on performing duties in isolation from Windsor Castle.
She spoke about her condition during a video call with the Royal London Hospital to mark the official opening of its Queen Elizabeth Unit.
Talking to former Covid patient Asef Hussain, and his wife Shamina, the Queen said: “It does leave one very tired and exhausted, doesn’t it? This horrible pandemic. It’s not a nice result.”
Mr Hussain was the third member of his family to be admitted to hospital with Covid in December 2020.
While he was in a coma for seven weeks after being put on a ventilator, his brother died and his father passed away.
Mrs Hussain told the Queen at one point there were 500 friends and family on a Zoom call praying for her husband.
The monarch made them smile when she joked: “So you have a large family, or a large influence on people?”
On Wednesday, she heard how the 155-bed unit in East London was built in record time to treat around 800 patients.
Her Majesty was told by one senior nurse: “We held their hands, we wiped their tears and we provided comfort.”
Hospital chaplain Imam Faruq Siddiqi explained that families “felt a sense of hope” when he visited their loved ones.
“Although I didn’t hold any miracles, I hope I was able to bring some sort of comfort to them through my presence and prayers,” he said. The Queen said: “It obviously was a very frightening experience to have Covid very badly, wasn’t it?”
He replied: “What made it worse was being by themselves.”
“Exactly. So they were alone, too,” the monarch said.
She was also introduced to the men who built the care unit in just five weeks, Paul Chandler and Jeff Barley.
Her Majesty said: “It is very interesting, when there’s some very vital thing, how everybody pulls together. Marvellous, isn’t it?”
Mr Barley hailed the “little bit of Dunkirk spirit” involved, prompting the smiling monarch to reply: “Thank goodness it still exists.”
The Queen, who had “mild cold-like” Covid symptoms, has been suffering from mobility issues, forcing her to cancel a number of public engagements.
Buckingham Palace announced on Friday that she had decided not to attend an annual Easter church service.
Prince Charles will for the first time represent her at the Royal Maundy Thursday service at St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle, Berks.
It will be only the fifth time she has missed the event in her 70-year reign.
Aides have insisted she is determined to attend her Platinum Jubilee celebrations in June.
A source said: “She has good days and less good days but is pin sharp and carrying on with daily duties.”
