The Queen: Her Majesty speaks about her COVID battle for the first time

The COVID-19 pandemic has made its mark on people and the virus has had major complications for many. The Queen caught the virus back in February after her eldest son, Prince Charles tested positive for the second time. During a virtual meeting with hospital staff, the Queen has finally opened up about her experience with COVID-19.

The Queen and COVID

The Queen contracted COVID-19 in late February, two days after her son Prince Charles, tested positive for the virus. He had visited his mother a few days before falling ill.

At the time, Buckingham Palace refused to comment on the Queen’s health apart from the fact that she was suffering from ‘mild cold-like symptoms’ and was carrying out ‘light duties’. The Queen spoke virtually to the Royal London Hospital for the opening of the Queen Elizabeth Unit—which was built specifically for the pandemic to meet demands. She said:

It does leave one very tired and exhausted, doesn't it? This horrible pandemic. It's not a nice result.

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The hospital staff

Among the people the Queen spoke to during her virtual meeting was Asef Hussein, who was one of the 800 people treated at the Royal London Hospital. He was the third person in his family to contract COVID-19. Sadly he was the only one who recovered.

Hussein was on a ventilator for seven weeks and has only recently stopped using a wheelchair. Hussein’s wife told the Queen that there were 500 friends and family from across the world praying for her husband. Her Majesty jokingly replied:

So you have a large family, or a large influence on people?

The Queen also conversed with senior sister Mireia Lopez Rey Ferrer who has been working at the Royal London Hospital since 2008. She talked about her team’s commitment to helping patients:

As nurses, we made sure that they were not alone,

It felt at times that we were running a marathon with no finish line.

She also added:

I look back to the last 18 months with great pride, pride not only in the care we provided to each and every single patient, that was in one of our hospital beds, but pride in each member of staff that every day they left their families at home despite their fears and worries and they came to work.

The Queen also talked about the construction team that was in charge of building the unit on the hospital’s 14th and 15th floor:

It is very interesting, isn't it, when there is some very vital thing, how everybody works together and pulls together - marvellous isn't it?

Some of the members of the team said it was thanks to the ‘Dunkirk spirit’, to which the Queen answered:

Thank goodness it still exists.