Prince Andrew, who was notably absent from the Platinum Jubilee’s military parade, has tested positive for COVID-19, Buckingham Palace said Thursday.
Queen Elizabeth II’s second son saw the 96-year-old monarch earlier this week but not since testing positive for the virus, the BBC reported. As a result of the positive test, Andrew will not attend the service of thanksgiving at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London on Friday. It is unclear if other members of the royal family have been exposed.
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“After undertaking a routine test, the Duke has tested positive for COVID and with regret will no longer be attending tomorrow’s service,” a palace spokesman said, according to Sky News.
Andrew was seen in public most recently escorting his mother to a memorial service honoring her husband, Prince Philip, who died at the age of 99 last year. The couple was married for 73 years. The last time Andrew was seen with the royal family before that was at his father’s funeral.
The archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, also tested positive for COVID-19 and mild pneumonia earlier this week and will therefore miss the service. Lambeth Palace, the home of the archbishop, said the archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell, will be taking his place.
“I am deeply saddened to be missing the historic celebration of Her Majesty The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. However, I will be praying for The Queen and giving thanks for her extraordinary seventy years of service to us all,” Welby said in a statement. “I will also be praying for our nation at this time of celebration and thanksgiving. May The Queen’s example bring us together in unity and care for one another.
Thursday is the first of a four-day weekend celebrating the queen’s unprecedented 70-year reign. Andrew, Prince Harry, and Meghan, the duchess of Sussex, did not stand with the queen on the balcony of Buckingham Palace during the military parade, called “Trooping the Colors,” because it was an honor extended to the senior working members of the royal family.
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Meghan and Harry stepped down from their roles as senior working royals in 2020, when they moved to the United States.
Andrew has been plagued with scandal after one of late financier Jeffrey Epstein’s alleged sex trafficking victims, Virginia Giuffre, accused Andrew of sexually abusing her. Andrew has denied the allegations but paid an undisclosed amount of money to settle the suit instead of taking it to trial. The queen additionally stripped Andrew of his military titles because of the lawsuit.
