While his family is safely self-isolating, Prince William still has some concerns about the senior members of the Royal Family. In a joint interview with his wife, Duchess Kate Middleton, 38, the Duke of Cambridge, 37, shared that, following his father, Prince Charles’, 71, positive diagnosis for the coronavirus, he grew “quite concerned” for his family. “I have to admit at first I was quite concerned,” Prince William revealed during the video interview with BBC Breakfast on April 17. “He fits the profile of somebody — the age he is at, which is, you know, fairly risky. And so I was a little bit worried, but my father has had many chest infections, colds and things like that over the years. And so I thought to myself, if anybody’s going to be able to beat this it’s going to be him.”
Prince Charles tested positive for the virus at the end of March and spent seven days in self-isolation. Following his one week of quarantine, Prince Charles was dubbed healthy enough by a physician to leave self-isolation and continue to practice social distancing with his wife, Camila, Duchess of Cornwall, 72. Even with the happy news, Prince William admitted that he couldn’t help but worry about his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, 93, and grandfather, Prince Philip, 98. “I think very carefully about my grandparents who are, you know, at the age they’re at, and we’re doing everything we can to make sure that they’re, you know, isolated away and protected from this,” he shared with the outlet.
While his thoughts are undoubtedly with his family, the Duke did share that it “does worry” him to consider “what’s going to happen to a lot of the vulnerable people and the high-risk people who are going to potentially have to isolate away for quite some time, and the impact that’s going to have on them and on families up and down the country having to do that.”
As for Queen Elizabeth II, the longest reigning sovereign in England’s history is quarantining safely at Buckingham Palace since mid-March. But the Queen has maintained a connection to her subjects during this uncertain and difficult time for millions of people across the globe. Following an encouraging, heartfelt statement the palace released on March 19, Her Royal Majesty offered a special, televised message for her people.
“While we have faced challenges before, this one is different. This time, we join with all nations across the globe in a common endeavor using the great advances of science and our instinctive compassion to heal,” the Queen addressed viewers on April 5. “We will succeed, and that success will belong to every one of us. We should take comfort that, although we have more still to endure, better days will return. We will be with our friends again. We will be with our families again. We will meet again.”