The Queen has tested positive for Covid-19 - how did she get it, and what will happen?

The Queen has contracted Covid-19, Buckingham Palace has announced.

The monarch, 95, has tested positive for the virus and is experiencing “mild cold-like symptoms” but expects to carry out “light duties” this week.

Buckingham Palace said in a statement: “Buckingham Palace confirms 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.

Here is everything you need to know.

How did the Queen catch Covid-19?

The head of state has fallen ill after it was confirmed she had been in direct contact with her eldest son and heir, the Prince of Wales, the week he had the disease.

She is believed to have spent time with Charles on Tuesday 8 February, when he hosted an investiture at her Windsor Castle home, and a few days later he tested positive for Covid but made a quick recovery to full health.

The shock announcement was made just a few weeks after the nation’s longest-reigning monarch reached her historic Platinum Jubilee of 70 years on the throne on 6 February.

The monarch carried out her first major public engagement for more than three months on Saturday 5 February, when she met charity workers at Sandringham House, cut a celebratory cake and used a walking stick to rest on.

The Duchess of Cornwall has also tested positive for Covid, with Clarence House confirming on Monday 14 February that she was self isolating.

How will Covid affect the Queen?

Concern across the nation will be at peak levels for the Queen given her advanced age and her health scare in recent months, and her popularity in a country where many have known no other monarch on the throne.

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.

The Queen is understood to be triple vaccinated but she had been on doctors’ order to rest since mid October, after cancelling a run of engagements and spending a night in hospital undergoing preliminary tests.

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