Coronavirus: Prince William had coronavirus as well as Prince Charles
The Duke of Cambridge battled COVID-19 in April, but kept the illness secret to avoid causing alarm in the UK.
Prince Charles wasn’t the only royal struck down by coronavirus, it has been revealed.
Duke of Cambridge Prince William also fought the virus in April in a battle which left him “struggling to breathe”, according to The Sun newspaper.
His condition was kept secret to avoid “alarming the nation”, the newspaper says.
While his father, Prince Charles, fought his illness publicly, its claimed William, the 38-year-old heir to the throne, caught the virus just days after his father, and UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, were infected.
Prince William was treated by palace doctors as he isolated at the family home Anmar Hall, in Norfolk, according to The Sun.
It was ‘business as usual’, despite his battle, the paper says, with William continuing to perform telephone and video call engagements throughout April.
A source told the Sun the virus hit the Duke “pretty hard”.
“At one stage he was struggling to breathe, so obviously everyone around him was pretty panicked,” the source said.
William reportedly was determined to keep his illness secret because it came hot on the heels of Charles being ill and Boris Johnson being rushed to hospital.
He was concerned news of his own illness may send the UK into “panic mode”.
“After seeing medics and testing positive — which was obviously quite a shock given how fit and healthy he is — William was determined it should be business as usual though,” the source told The Sun.
“He felt there were more important things going on in the country.”
William reportedly had a seven-day break from calls and video messages after April 9.
On April 16, he opened a hospital in Birmingham via video link.
On April 23, William appeared on a Comic Relief fundraiser, with a sketch filmed several days earlier airing on the BBC.
He was also filmed standing at the front door of the family home with Kate, 38, and George, 7, Charlotte, 5, and two-year-old Louis, with the group leading the nation in that night’s Clap for Carers.
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