The Queen has canceled virtual engagements for she is still experiencing mild cold-like symptoms after testing positive for COVID-19.
Queen Elizabeth II has canceled her virtual engagements on Tuesday because of cold-like symptoms after confirming that she tested positive for COVID-19 on Sunday. The news organization said the 95-year-old British monarch would halt her virtual engagements for the day.
The palace said the queen, who has been fully vaccinated and had a booster shot, would continue with “light” duties at Windsor Castle over the coming week.
Buckingham Palace said in a statement: “As Her Majesty is still experiencing mild cold-like symptoms, she has decided not to undertake her planned virtual engagements today, but will continue with light duties. She will continue to receive medical attention and will follow all the appropriate guidelines.”
Officials confirmed Sunday that the queen tested positive for COVID-19. The diagnosis prompted concern and get-well wishes from across Britain’s political spectrum for the queen, the country’s longest-reigning monarch.
She will now decide whether to press ahead with further engagements this week, such as her weekly conversation with Prime Minister Boris Johnson. It is understood that future engagements could be in doubt over the coming weeks as they said a decision on these would take place nearer the time.
Both the queen’s eldest son, Prince Charles, 73, and her daughter-in-law, Camilla, 74, Duchess of Cornwall, contracted COVID-19 earlier this month. Charles has since returned to work.
There are also thought to have been several recent virus cases among the staff at Windsor Castle, where the queen is staying. The nation has expressed concern for the health of the longest-reigning monarch due to her age, her Covid diagnosis, and recent health scare.
Her Majesty has continued working following her diagnosis as she sent a message of condolence to Brazil on Monday to say she was deeply saddened by recent fatal floods and was planning to go ahead with other virtual diplomatic audiences scheduled with foreign ambassadors.
People in the U.K. who test positive for COVID-19 are now required to self-isolate for at least five days, although the British government says it plans to lift that requirement for England this week.
The queen’s doctors ordered her to rest and she was forced to cancel appearances at several key events, including Remembrance Sunday services and the COP26 climate conference in Glasgow, Scotland in November.
The monarch’s health is usually kept as a firmly private matter, with only limited details revealed. The Palace has said there will not be a “running commentary” on the Queen’s health.
This month she returned to public duties and has held audiences both virtually and in-person with diplomats, politicians, and senior military officers. During one exchange caught on camera last week, she walked slowly with a stick and said “as you can see I can’t move” in an apparent reference to her leg.
Senior royals, led by the Prince of Wales and Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge are taking up the slack of her duties until the 95-year-old monarch is fully recovered.
Prince Edward, the Earl of Wessex and his wife Sophie, and Princess Royal are also poised to step up, along with the Duchess of Cornwall once she has fully recovered from Covid herself.
A senior source said: “Her Majesty is ably supported by her family. She will continue with light duties but of course will listen to her medical team”.
Britain’s longest-reigning monarch and a fixture in the life of the nation, the queen reached the milestone of 70 years on the throne on February 6, the anniversary of the 1952 death of her father, King George VI. She will turn 96 on April 21.