Prince Albert II is not here for finger-pointing. After some people blamed him for Prince Charles’ positive coronavirus diagnosis, the Monacan royal took a moment to set the record straight.
“I was at a roundtable for his foundation, but we never shook hands,” Albert, 62, said on the French radio network RTL on Thursday, March 26. “I was at the other end of the table, way far away.”
The royals attended WaterAid’s Water and Climate event in London on March 10. Days later, they both announced that they had tested positive for the virus.
“We nodded hello to one another, so I don’t think I can really be accused of contaminating him,” Albert said on Thursday. “There were a lot of other people around at the congress center, and I know he continued his schedule afterwards for a number of days. [He] had a number of other opportunities to catch it.”
The Monacan palace confirmed on March 19 that Albert was being treated by doctors from the Princess Grace Hospital while continuing to work from his home office. Six days later, Clarence House broke the news that Charles, 71, had also tested positive after “displaying mild symptoms.”
Clarence House’s statement on Wednesday, March 25, assured royal watchers that the Prince of Wales “remains in good health” while self-isolating in Scotland with his wife, Duchess Camilla, who tested negative.
“It is 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,” the statement noted.
Later on Wednesday, Buckingham Palace confirmed that Queen Elizabeth II also “remains in good health” and had not seen her son since March 12. “[She] is following all the appropriate advice with regard to her welfare,” the palace said.
The queen, 93, addressed the U.K. about the coronavirus pandemic in a statement released on March 19, the same day that she and her husband, Prince Philip, arrived at Windsor Castle for the Easter holiday.
“Many of us will need to find new ways of staying in touch with each other and making sure that loved ones are safe. I am certain we are up to that challenge,” she said at the time. “You can be assured that my family and I stand ready to play our part.”
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