|
 William, 38, grandson of Queen
Elizabeth and second-in-line to the British
throne, kept his diagnosis a secret because he
did not want to alarm the country, said The Sun
newspaper, which first reported the news.
"There were important things going on and I
didn't want to worry anyone," William was quoted
by the newspaper as having told an observer at
an engagement.
He was treated by palace doctors and followed
government guidelines by isolating at his
family's home Anmer Hall, in Norfolk in eastern
England, the newspaper said, adding he had still
carried out 14 telephone and video call
engagements during April.
"William was hit pretty hard by the virus - it
really knocked him for six. At one stage he was
struggling to breathe, so obviously everyone
around him was pretty panicked," an unnamed
source told The Sun.
Kensington Palace declined to comment officially
on the story but did not deny The Sun's report.
The Daily Mail newspaper said that neither
William's wife Kate nor his young children
George, Charlotte and Louis had tested positive
for the virus.
PM JOHNSON ALSO FELL ILL
William contracted the virus a couple of weeks
after it was disclosed that his father had
tested positive in March. Prince Charles, 71,
self-isolated at his residence in Scotland for
seven days with mild symptoms of the disease.
[to top of second column]
|
 Queen Elizabeth, 94, and her
husband Prince Philip, 99, spent the early
months of the pandemic shielding at Windsor
Castle, the monarch's residence west of London,
and avoiding contact with other family members
due to their advanced age.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson needed
hospital treatment after he contracted COVID-19
at the end of March and a number of other
ministers were also struck down by the illness.
Britain has been hit hard by the pandemic and
has officially reported to date 46,717 COVID-19
deaths - defined as those dying within 28 days
of a positive test.
Some commentators were critical of the royals
for keeping William's illness a secret.
"If the future king contracts a potentially
fatal virus that the entire world is worried
about during a lockdown and he and those around
him cover it up, that raises serious questions
about whether we can trust anything he or his
advisers say," Richard Palmer, the royal
correspondent for the Daily Express newspaper,
said on Twitter.
(Reporting by Michael Holden in London and
Kanishka Singh in Bengaluru; editing by Diane
Craft and Gareth Jones)
[© 2020 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2020 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
 |
