Prince Charles met Queen two days before testing positive for Covid

Prince Charles has tested positive for Covid-19 and is self-isolating, Clarence House has announced.

It is the second time the heir to the throne, 73, has contracted the virus. The first time was in 2020.

The Queen has been confirmed to have been in direct contact with Charles, but the monarch is not displaying any symptoms, a palace source said. They declined to say whether or not the Queen had tested negative.

The 95-year-old is believed to have spent time with Charles on Tuesday when her eldest son was carrying out an investiture on her behalf at her Windsor Castle home. She is understood to be fully vaccinated so will not be self isolating, although she will be advised to take daily lateral flow tests for a week.

The announcement of the positive test was made just after midday, about 12 minutes before Charles was due to arrive in Winchester to unveil a statue.

Camilla had accompanied Charles to the British Museum on Wednesday evening where they met scores of people at a reception to celebrate the work of the British Asian Trust.

Of the 14.8m infection episodes in England since the start of the pandemic, 588,114 (4%) are probably reinfections.