Prince Charles has tested positive for coronavirus

The royals may have been cutting back on their speaking engagements and public appearances (the doors to Kensington Palace and Windsor Castle were closed as of March 20), but COVID-19 has still managed to infect the first senior royal: 71-year-old heir to the throne, Prince Charles. The royal family confirmed the news on March 25 with an official statement to fans and followers in the U.K.“The Prince of Whales 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. The Duchess of Cornwall has also tested but does not have the virus,” reads the statement from Clarence House, referring to Camilla. “In accordance with government and medical advice, the Prince and the Duchess are now self-isolating at home in Scotland.”The statement goes on to reveal that it’s impossible to know where Prince Charles caught the virus given the number of public engagements that he’s participated in over the past few weeks, and that he and Camilla were both tested in Aberdeenshire by the NHS after they “met the criteria required for testing.” Considering how many people in the U.K. (and worldwide) are being denied tests right now because their symptoms aren’t critical enough, that seemed like an important thing to add. Meanwhile their staff is also self-isolating following the news.So what does this mean for the rest of the royal family? News is still rolling in, but according to the Queen the last time she saw her son was briefly on March 12. That puts her at the 13-day mark, just a day short of how long experts say it could take for symptoms of COVID-19 to show up. The Queen and Prince Philip have been practicing social distancing since March 20, when they hunkered down at Windsor a week earlier than had originally planned.“We are all being advised to change our normal routines and regular patterns of life for the greater good of the communities we live in and, in particular, to protect the most vulnerable within them,” Queen Elizabeth said in a statement. “At times such as these, I am reminded that our nation’s history has been forged by people and communities coming together to work as one, concentrating our combined efforts with a focus on the common goal.”

A message from Her Majesty The Queen.https://t.co/xVJmB7aU40 pic.twitter.com/HLHqRnZGIP

— The Royal Family (@RoyalFamily) March 19, 2020

Meanwhile, Will and Kate’s crew have also hunkered down at home after the kids’ school, Thomas’s Battersea in London, switched to remote learning on March 20. That means six-year-old George and four-year old Charlotte are being homeschooled for the time being at the same time as the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are spearheading fundraising efforts to help battle the virus. And Princess Beatrice, who was scheduled to marry Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi in May, has postponed her wedding for a third time because of coronavirus concerns (the first two-times were in relation to her father, Prince Andrew, and his scandals). Now she’s supposedly considering just eloping.Although Prince Charles is the first senior royal to contract COVID-19, he isn’t the first in the extended family. Prince Albert II of Monaco, who is related to the Queen by marriage (his sister Caroline is married to the Queen’s fifth cousin, Prince Ernst August), tested positive for the virus on March 19. At the time the 62-year-old revealed he’s still working from home and was in constant contact with members of his government.[video_embed id='1928069']RELATED: How farmers are trying to navigate COVID-19 challenges and demands[/video_embed]