Becoming the first global royal to test positive for COVID-19, the 59-year-old head of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine initially thought that he fell ill with the usual flu.
- March 18, 2020
AceShowbiz - Karl von Habsburg, the Archduke of Austria, has become the first global royal to test positive for coronavirus.
The 59-year-old, who is the head of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine, has been quarantined since 12 March, after falling ill with what he thought was the flu.
"It's annoying, but I'm fine. It's not the Black Plague," the royal said during a satellite chat with Austrian TV channel oe24. "I thought it was the usual flu. When a friend told me that he had a positive test at a congress in Switzerland, I was also tested."
He went on to praise the Austrian authorities, claiming "they act with measure and aim."
Meanwhile, in the U.K., Queen Elizabeth II is taking precautions, with Buckingham Palace representatives announcing that she will be moving to Windsor Castle for the upcoming Easter holiday from 19 March - a week earlier than planned - and will no longer be attending large gatherings in the coming months, including the annual Maundy Thursday Service at St. George's Chapel on 9 April, which has been cancelled.
Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall, Camilla Parker Bowles, have also been impacted by the virus, cancelling their upcoming tour of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cyprus and Jordan from 17 to 25 March.
