Covid-19: Prince William speaks of concern for dad Charles after diagnosis

PTI, Apr 17, 2020, 3:47 PM IST

London: Britain’s Prince William on Friday, April 17 spoke about his concern for his father, Prince Charles, after the 71-year-old heir to the British throne tested positive for coronavirus and went into self-isolation ahead of his recovery a week later.

William, the Duke of Cambridge who is second in line to the throne, also spoke of his worry for his grandparents Queen Elizabeth II, 93, and her husband Prince Philip, 98 who are both isolated away at Windsor Castle during the pandemic.

“I have to admit, at first I was quite concerned, he [Charles] fits the profile of somebody, at the age he is at, which is fairly risky,” William told the BBC.

But my father has had many chest infections, colds and things like that over the years and so I thought to myself if anybody is going to be able to beat this, it is going to be him,” said the 37-year-old.

In reference to his grandparents, he added: Obviously I think very carefully about my grandparents. We are doing everything we can to make sure they are isolated away and protected from this but it does worry me.

William was joined by wife Kate Middleton in a call-in to speak out about the need to look after mental health during the current lockdown, in force to curb the spread of the deadly virus, as part of their wider work supporting the UK’s mental health charities.

“There is going to be an ever-increasing need for people to look after their mental health and take it seriously,” said William.

On a more personal note, the couple reflect on managing young children through the lockdown, with six-year-old Prince George and four-year-old Princess Charlotte’s home-schooling routines as well as looking after their youngest son Prince Louis, 2.

The family, in lockdown at the royal estate of Norfolk in eastern England, admitted that it had been a challenging time.

“It’s quite hectic for them all to say the right thing at the right time without pressing the wrong buttons. But it’s great and it’s nice to keep in touch with everybody,” said Kate, in reference to connecting the kids with the rest of the family via video-calls.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have been conducting video calls with frontline National Health Service (NHS) workers and lauded their extraordinary work through the crisis.

They do an extraordinary job, it goes unrecognized daily and now I think all of us as a nation can really see how hard they work and how vital their work is, said Kate, 38.

As part of their mental health initiative, the couple have provided the narration for a video which will highlight new advice on Public Health England’s Every Mind Matters website from next Monday.