The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh have received coronavirus vaccinations, Buckingham Palace has said.
The couple got the first doses of their COVID-19 jabs on Saturday, according to a spokesperson, in a rare announcement commenting on the royals’ private health matters.
It is understood the Queen decided the information should be made public to prevent inaccuracies and further speculation.
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A royal source confirmed the injections were administered by a royal household doctor at Windsor Castle.
The Queen, 94, and Philip, 99, have been spending the lockdown in England sheltering there after deciding to have a quiet Christmas at their Berkshire residence, forgoing the traditional royal family gathering at Sandringham.
They join more than a million people who have received the jab so far.
Sky News royal correspondent Rhiannon Mills said it was “an incredibly unusual” move by the Palace to make the news public.
“Usually when it comes to medical matters, the Palace normally say to us, no comment,” she said. “And certainly, ever since we knew that the vaccine was here in the UK, the palace have said that this was a private matter, when exactly the couple would receive the vaccination.
“But they have today confirmed that both the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh have today received their COVID-19 vaccinations. It’s also been confirmed to me that these were administered by a household doctor at Windsor Castle.”
It was the Queen who decided that she wanted to announce the news, Mills said.
“Of course, it was inevitable that as a couple, they would receive the vaccine in the early stages of it being rolled out across the country,” she continued. “The Queen, of course, is 94 years old, the Duke of Edinburgh, 99 years old, and everything possible has been done to try and shield them, protect them from the virus.”
Charles and William, photographed in December 2019, have both had coronavirus. Pic: Kensington Palace
It is not known which vaccine the Queen and duke were given but it is likely they will receive their second dose up to 12 weeks later.
In the US, key public figures have been photographed while being inoculated, with president-elect Joe Biden appearing on live television when he received a dose in December.
By making the announcement public, the royals are sending out an “important” message, Mills said. It is likely to have the effect of giving sceptical members of the public more confidence in the vaccine.
“It’s important to see that Her Majesty the Queen has said, yes, I will have this vaccination, and right throughout this pandemic, that the royal family have been very much setting the example to the rest of the country when it comes to how they’ve been carrying out their work.
“Making sure they’re wearing face masks at the right time. The Queen very early on [was] wearing gloves when people were still allowed to meet with her, and also making sure that they don’t break any of the restrictions. So any kind of public engagements have had to be scrapped, certainly during those lockdown periods.”
The Prince of Wales and the Duke of Cambridge both contracted coronavirus during the first wave of the pandemic.
Charles was described as having mild symptoms and lost his sense of taste and smell for a period, while it was reported his son William was hit “pretty hard” by the virus.
On a visit to a vaccination centre at Gloucestershire Royal Hospital before Christmas, Charles said he is “way down the list” for an inoculation.
On Friday, a third coronavirus vaccine was approved for use in the UK. The latest jab, from US biotech firm Moderna, has been given the green light by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency – joining the vaccines from Pfizer/BioNTech and Oxford/AstraZeneca, which are already being used here.