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CNN (“Prince Charles tests positive for novel coronavirus“):
Prince Charles, Queen Elizabeth II’s son and the heir to the British throne, has tested positive for coronavirus and is now self-isolating in Scotland.
The Prince of Wales is only displaying mild symptoms and is otherwise in good health, Clarence House said in a statement. It is not known how the 71-year-old caught the virus because of his busy schedule of public events in recent weeks.
Buckingham Palace said the Queen remained in “good health.” Last Tuesday, the Palace said the 93-year-old monarch was canceling public events “as a sensible precaution” and she and her husband, 98-year-old Prince Philip, moved to Windsor Castle on Thursday, a week earlier than planned. She is expected to stay there beyond the Easter period.
In a statement issued by the Palace as they moved to Windsor, the Queen said the world was entering “a period of great concern and uncertainty” and warned that many would need to “find new ways of staying in touch with each other and making sure that loved ones are safe.” She said she and her family were ready to play their part.
It strikes me that Charles and the rest of the royals should certainly have stopped public activities well before now but one understands the imperative to do otherwise.
I, of course, hope for his full and speedy recovery but this is yet another reminder of the weirdness of his position: his entire life is defined by what happens after his mother dies. And it would be a cruel irony if, at 71 and well into the at-risk range for mortality from this disease, he predeceased his 93-year-old mother and 98-year-old father.
