Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth has tested positive for Covid and is experiencing mild cold-like symptoms, Buckingham Palace has announced.
According to the announcement, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, 95, expects to continue to carry out light duties at Windsor this week despite the diagnosis.
A statement said: ‘Buckingham Palace confirm that The Queen has today tested positive for Covid.
‘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 the appropriate guidelines.’
It comes after the monarch’s eldest son Prince Charles tested positive for Covid a second time earlier this month.
The Queen spent time with Charles on Tuesday February 8, when he hosted an investiture at her Windsor Castle home, and a few days later he was confirmed as having Covid after taking a routine test.
Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, later also tested positive and started self-isolating last Monday.
It had been thought Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth had managed to avoid catching the virus herself after she was pictured on Wednesday holding her first in-person meeting since the scare.
But a shock announcement late on Sunday morning confirmed the monarch has become ill for the first time during the pandemic.
Covid symptoms may appear from two to 14 days after exposure to the virus, but the Queen may not have got it from Charles as it is understood a number of cases have also been diagnosed among the Windsor Castle team.
The Royal Household has its own royal physicians and the Queen’s doctors will be on hand to take care of and monitor the head of state, with Professor Sir Huw Thomas, head of the Medical Household and Physician to the Queen, expected to be in charge.
It comes just weeks after the Queen marked 70 years since she ascended to the throne in 1952 following the death of her father King George VI.
She carried out her first major public engagement for more than three months on February 5, the eve of her Jubilee, when she met charity workers at Sandringham House.
Concerns have grown about the monarch’s health since late last year when she was forced to cancel key engagements including her participation at the UN’s Cop Climate Summit in Glasgow.
Doctors advised her to prioritise rest and she spent the night in hospital after undergoing tests.
She has spent much of the pandemic at Windsor Castle, where she isolated with the Duke of Edinburgh during the first lockdown.