Queen stays at Balmoral despite staff member testing positive
Despite a member of the Queen’s staff at her Balmoral summer estate, testing positive for COVID-19, the Queen has decided she will be “carrying on at Balmoral as normal” a source claims.
Her Majesty, 95, is double-vaccinated and she’s decided to stay on at Balmoral while the employee who tested positive was sent home on Saturday.
Spokespeople for Buckingham Palace in London have said all the staff at Balmoral are tested for COVID on a daily basis and are wearing facemasks at all times.
But royal insiders suggest the Queen and her family could be waiting for the results of their own PCR tests.
Staying in her beloved Scottish sanctuary
It’s been reported her Majesty decided to stay in Scotland so she could ‘get back to normal,' following the death of Prince Philip in April and the public spats between Buckingham Palace and Harry and Meghan.
The monarch, who once described COVID as a “plague sweeping the planet”, has her Scottish castle full of relatives including Prince Andrew and his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson, Princess Beatrice and husband Edoardo Mozzi, and Prince Edward and Sophie, Countess of Wessex.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and their children are expected to arrive later this month.
Scotland has been a welcome retreat for the royal family since Queen Victoria's day, with the Windsors relaxing and enjoying country pursuits in the stunning setting of the Scottish Highlands.
Sources have reported that since the employee came up positive on Saturday, most staff were sent home and the staff canteen and bar were shut.
The royals themselves are “pretty much carrying on as they were” before the positive test. However, the Queen and her family missed Sunday's church service on the Scottish estate - with insiders suggesting they may have done so while they wait for the results of their Covid PCR tests.
Under government guidance, people in England and Northern Ireland who have had two COVID vaccine doses, no longer have to self-isolate if they come into contact with someone who has tested positive.
Instead of undergoing 10 days of house-arrest, they are now advised to take a PCR test. They are also advised to wear facemasks in enclosed spaces and to limit contact with others, particularly the clinically vulnerable.
Photo: Getty Images