The health of Queen Elizabeth, 96, is being closely monitored amid fears that her son Prince Charles may have infected her with COVID-19 when they met on Tuesday. The Mail says she will be tested for “several days,” even though the palace would not say if she had tested positive…

If Charles has given his mother COVID, it will illustrate just how easily the virulent Omicron strain of the disease can overwhelm even the most cautious approach to preventing infection. The queen has severely limited her in-person contacts, and the small group of around 20 staff who still work directly with her—nicknamed “HMS Bubble”—are regularly tested and work in revolving shifts, exclusively taking over from one another.

In conversations with staffers at the various royal palaces yesterday there was a clear effort to telegraph a sense of “business as usual,” but there is little doubt that beneath the calm exterior there is huge concern that Charles may have brought the illness into the queen’s private apartments.