Queen and Prince Philip are living together for the first time in two years because of coronavirus lockdown
Queen Elizabeth and her husband, Prince Philip, have started living together for the first time in two years as the duo practices social distancing amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The elderly royals are staying together at Windsor Castle in the English county of Berkshire. While Elizabeth moved to Windsor from Buckingham Palace on March 19, Philip flew there from his Sandringham estate on the same day.
During normal times, the Queen mostly resides in Buckingham Palace, while the 98-year-old has been living at Wood Farm on the Sandringham estate in Norfolk since he retired in 2017. According to reports, the senior-most royal pair is in good health even as their son Prince Charles tested positive for coronavirus last week, and which raised concerns that other members of the family may have contracted the illness as well.
The Prince of Wales, 71, was in self-isolation at Balmoral Castle in Scotland with his wife Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, when the illness was confirmed. “The Prince of Wales has tested positive for Coronavirus. He has been displaying mild symptoms but otherwise remains in good health and has been working from home throughout the last few days as usual,” a Clarence House spokesman said.
The spokesman added, “In accordance with government and medical advice, the Prince and the Duchess are now self-isolating at home in Scotland. The tests were carried out by the NHS in Aberdeenshire where they met the criteria required for testing."
However, the spokesperson did not mention where or who Charles contracted the disease from as he had carried out a large number of public engagements in "recent weeks."
Meanwhile, a new report has claimed that doctors are on standby for Prince Philip amid the global health crisis. Royal expert Angela Mollard said that Philip, who is "enormously vulnerable" to coronavirus, has doctors on standby.
“Prince Philip is enormously vulnerable, as he is a very sick person anyway. He was in the hospital at Christmas Time, so they will be protecting his health at Windsor. There will be doctors on staff,” Mollard told the ROYALS podcast.
This comes soon after rumors surfaced that the Duke of Edinburgh was dead. Tweets like "There are reports that Prince Philip is dead. The First 100 people to arrive at Buckingham Palace can attend the public funeral. #RoyalFamily," and "#PrincePhilip is dead?? What is this madness trending on Twitter today," started surfacing on social media.
However, later a palace insider reportedly confirmed Philip is "absolutely fine." “Source close to Buckingham Palace tells me he's absolutely fine,” Telegraph editor Gareth Davies told the Express.
In a tweet, Davies said: "I don't know what would possess someone to start a lie like that, but stop. It's weird and incites panic. We don't need that right now."
This was though not the first time Philip has been declared ‘dead’. Infact, it has happened so many times that many fans jokingly asked others to put a lid on it. "#PrincePhilip dead? That fella has died more often than Tottenham's trophy quest," one said, while another wrote, "Good lord another Prince Phillip is dead twitter trend. That must be the fifth this year already. Might as well rename #twitter Weekend at Philip’s (Weekend at Bernie's). #TwitterTrends #PrincePhilip."