Britain's Prince Charles tests positive for the coronavirus
Jill Lawless | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 4 years, 7 months AGO
FILE - In this Monday, March 9, 2020 file photo, Britain's Prince Charles and Camilla the Duchess of Cornwall, in the background, leave after attending the annual Commonwealth Day service at Westminster Abbey in London, Monday, March 9, 2020. Prince Charles, the heir to the British throne, has tested positive for the new coronavirus. The prince’s Clarence House office reported on Wednesday, March 25, 2020 that the 71-year-old is showing mild symptoms of COVID-19 and is self-isolating at a royal estate in Scotland. For most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as…
FILE - In this March 11, 2020 file photo, Britain's Prince Charles, gesture as he greets musician Ronnie Wood as he arrives at the annual Prince's Trust Awards 2020 held at the London Palladium, Wednesday March 25, 2020. Prince Charles, the heir to the British throne, has tested positive for the new coronavirus. The prince’s Clarence House office reported on Wednesday, March 25, 2020 that the 71-year-old is showing mild symptoms of COVID-19 and is self-isolating at a royal estate in Scotland. It says his wife Camilla has tested negative. (Yui Mok/PA via AP, File)
FILE - In this March 12, 2020 file photo, Stephen Mear, right, receives his CBE from Britain's Prince Charles, during an investiture ceremony at Buckingham Palace, London. Prince Charles, the heir to the British throne, has tested positive for the new coronavirus. The prince’s Clarence House office reported on Wednesday, March 25, 2020 that the 71-year-old is showing mild symptoms of COVID-19 and is self-isolating at a royal estate in Scotland. It says his wife Camilla has tested negative.(Yui Mok/PA via AP, File)
Image from video taken on March 10, 2020 of Britain's Prince Charles sat opposite Prince Albert of Monaco at the WaterAid charity's Water and Climate event in London. Clarence House office reported on Wednesday, March 25, 2020 that 71-year-old Prince Charles is showing mild symptoms of COVID-19 and is self-isolating at a royal estate in Scotland. It says his wife Camilla has tested negative. For some people the COVID-19 coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, but for others it causes severe illness. (PA via AP)
FILE - In this file photo dated Monday March 9, 2020, members of Britain's royal family, with Prince Charles in foreground, followed by Prince William with Kate Duchess of Cambridge, and Prince Harry with Meghan Duchess of Sussex, as they leave the annual Commonwealth Service at Westminster Abbey in London. Britain's Queen Elizabeth II and other members of the royal family along with various government leaders and guests attended the annual Commonwealth Day service, the largest annual inter-faith gathering in the United Kingdom. The prince’s Clarence House office reported on Wednesday, …
FILE In this March 9, 2020 file photo, Britain's Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Charles leave after the Commonwealth Service at Westminster Abbey, London on Commonwealth Day. Prince Charles, the heir to the British throne, has tested positive for the new coronavirus. Clarence House office reported on Wednesday, March 25, 2020 that the 71-year-old is showing mild symptoms of COVID-19 and is self-isolating at a royal estate in Scotland. It says his wife Camilla has tested negative. (Yui Mok/PA via AP, File)
FILE - In this Wednesday, May 8, 2019 file photo, Britain's Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall wave from the town hall balcony in Leipzig, Germany. Prince Charles, the heir to the British throne, has tested positive for the new coronavirus. The prince’s Clarence House office reported on Wednesday, March 25, 2020 that the 71-year-old is showing mild symptoms of COVID-19 and is self-isolating at a royal estate in Scotland. It says his wife Camilla has tested negative. (AP Photo/Jens Meyer, File)
FILE - In this March 12, 2020 file photo, Britain's Prince Charles, centre, meets guests at a dinner at Mansion House in London. Prince Charles, the heir to the British throne, has tested positive for the new coronavirus. The prince’s Clarence House office reported on Wednesday, March 25, 2020 that the 71-year-old is showing mild symptoms of COVID-19 and is self-isolating at a royal estate in Scotland. It says his wife Camilla has tested negative. (Eamonn McCormack/PA via AP, File)
FILE In this March 9, 2020 file photo, Britain's Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Charles leave after the Commonwealth Service at Westminster Abbey, London on Commonwealth Day. Prince Charles, the heir to the British throne, has tested positive for the new coronavirus. Clarence House office reported on Wednesday, March 25, 2020 that the 71-year-old is showing mild symptoms of COVID-19 and is self-isolating at a royal estate in Scotland. It says his wife Camilla has tested negative. (Yui Mok/PA via AP, File)
Image from video taken on March 10, 2020 of Britain's Prince Charles sat opposite Prince Albert of Monaco at the WaterAid charity's Water and Climate event in London. Clarence House office reported on Wednesday, March 25, 2020 that 71-year-old Prince Charles is showing mild symptoms of COVID-19 and is self-isolating at a royal estate in Scotland. It says his wife Camilla has tested negative. For some people the COVID-19 coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, but for others it causes severe illness. (PA via AP)
LONDON (AP) — Prince Charles, the heir to the British throne, has tested positive for the new coronavirus, royal officials confirmed Wednesday — touching off debate about whether his wealth and status gave him priority in receiving a test.
The 71-year-old is showing mild symptoms of COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, and is self-isolating at a royal estate in Scotland, the prince's Clarence House office said. His wife, Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, has tested negative.
“The Prince of Wales has tested positive for Coronavirus," Clarence House said.
It said he “otherwise remains in good health and has been working from home throughout the last few days as usual.”
Britain’s Press Association, citing a source, said the prince and the 72-year-old duchess remained in good spirits, and that Charles was not bedridden.
The British government has advised people over age 70 to take social distancing measures especially seriously and warned they may need to stay home for 12 weeks.
For most people, the new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can be more severe, causing pneumonia and sometimes death.
Charles is the latest high-profile figure to reveal a COVID-19 diagnosis. He joins a growing list of celebrities, athletes and other famous people who been tested for the novel coronavirus, even when they didn’t have a fever or other severe tell-tale symptoms.
That has fueled the perception that the wealthy and famous have been able to jump to the head of the line to get tested while others have been turned away or met with long delays.
Scientists, public health and frontline medical staff officials have urged Britain to ramp up the number of people being tested for the virus. Currently the vast majority of people with mild symptoms are not being tested.
The government says it tested 6,491 people on Tuesday and hopes to increase that to 25,000 tests a day within three weeks.
A member of the Scottish Parliament, Joan McAlpine, expressed surprise that Charles was tested. McAlpine, a legislator with Scotland's governing Scottish National Party wished Charles a speedy recovery, but wondered aloud whether he had received special treatment.
“Given that his symptoms are said to be mild, like many I wonder how he was tested when many NHS and social care workers cannot get tested,’’ she said on Twitter. “My nephew, who has serious asthma and a chest infection was recently refused a test.’’
Charles and Camilla's tests were carried out by the National Health Service in Scotland. Its website says that in general people will be tested if they “have a serious illness that requires admission to hospital.’’
Scotland's Chief Medical Officer Catherine Calderwood defended the test.
"From the information I've been given it's clear he was tested for clinical reasons,’’ she said. “And I'm pleased also that he is well and as with many people who have had this virus he has had a mild illness."
Charles and other senior royals kept up a busy schedule of engagements until earlier this month, when they cut off public events as the coronavirus outbreak intensified.
Buckingham Palace said Queen Elizabeth II, 93, remains at her Windsor Castle home west of London with her 98-year-old husband, Prince Philip.
“Her Majesty the queen remains in good health,’’ the palace said, adding that the queen last saw Charles briefly at an event on March 12 and "is following all the appropriate advice with regard to her welfare.”
Philip was not with the monarch when she last saw Charles, the oldest of their four children.
Clarence House said it was “not possible to ascertain from whom the prince caught the virus owing to the high number of engagements he carried out in his public role during recent weeks."
Charles’ last public engagement was March 12. He has also had a number of private meetings, and participants at those sessions have been made aware of his condition.
Charles attended a March 11 awards ceremony for his Prince's Trust charity alongside celebrities including actor Pierce Brosnan and Ronnie Wood of the Rolling Stones.
Charles attended a round table meeting on March 10 with Monaco’s Prince Albert II, who has since tested positive for COVID-19. The British royal is not believed to have shaken hands with Albert at the WaterAid Summit in London on that day.
Charles has been photographed doing the namaste gesture, with hands pressed together, at public events in recent weeks, including the Commonwealth Day Service on March 9 at Westminster Abbey. The event was the last formal engagement of Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan.
Charles has spoken to both his sons: Prince William, who is second in line to the throne, and Prince Harry, who is in Canada.
On March 3, before governments around the world started to join China in implementing sweeping curbs on public activities to counter the COVID-19 outbreak, William joked about the virus during an official visit to Ireland with his wife, Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge.
“I bet everyone's like, 'I've got coronavirus, I'm dying' and you're like, 'No, you've just got a cough',” he told emergency workers at a reception hosted by Britain's Ambassador to Ireland in Dublin's Guinness Storehouse. “It does seem quite dramatic about the coronavirus. Is it being a little hyped-up in the media?”
With hindsight, William may regret his remarks in Ireland, including what he said next: that he and his wife “are spreading the coronavirus” even more.
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This story was earlier corrected to show that Ronnie Wood is still a member of the Rolling Stones.
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