Queen Elizabeth II caused 'shock' over QE2 name says expert

The news is likely to encourage many more people to get the jab. It comes as Boris Johnson prepares to ramp up the vaccination drive with the death toll now topping 80,000. It is  understood that the Queen, 94, and Philip, 99, decided that news of their jabs should be made public to prevent further spec­ulation, although which type of vaccine they had was not disclosed. Although more than 1.5 million Britons have so far had at least one Covid jab, recent polls suggest that one in five people would refuse to be vaccinated. 

Yesterday a further 1,035 people died, in the worst Saturday toll since April 18. It came as PM Boris Johnson prepares to step up the vaccination programme, with an announcement due tomorrow. All those over 70 in the UK should be inoculated by mid-February, according to Government plans to roll out the national programme.

A Buckingham Palace spokesman confirmed yesterday: “The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh have today received Covid-19 vaccinations.”

A royal source also said they were administered by a royal household doctor at Windsor Castle.

Because of their ages the couple were in the top four priority groups but waited their turn and were not given any special treatment. Yesterday Pope Francis also confirmed that he will get vaccinated this week and urged others to follow his example.

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He said: “It is an ethical choice because you are gambling with your health, with your life, but you are also gambling with the lives of others.”

Prince Charles, 72, contracted Covid-19 at the start of the pandemic in March but admitted he “got away with it quite lightly” after suffering mild symptoms. His son, Prince William, had the infection the ­following month.

The Queen and Philip have been spending the lockdown at Windsor after deciding to have a quiet Christmas there and forgo the traditional Royal Family gathering 
at Sandringham.

Reacting to news of their vaccination yesterday, Health Secretary Matt Hancock said: “I’m delighted that Her Majesty the Queen & HRH the Duke of Edinburgh have received their Covid vaccine.

“We are defeating this virus jab by jab.”

Labour leader Keir Starmer simply added: “Wonderful news.”

The Queen’s former doctor Sir Richard Thompson said: “I’m delighted the Queen has had the vaccine.

“Vaccines have revolutionised medicine around the world. Rabies, hepatitis, yellow fever can all be eliminated and people feel safe. They are amazingly cheap and last a lifetime. I would encourage everyone to take them. The results look good and the side effects are small. Vaccines give you freedom from a very nasty disease.” Professor Thompson, a former president of the Royal College of Physicians, added: “What the Queen has done is tremendous. Lots of ­people admire her. By her announcement she has done a lot for the confidence of the vaccine – and other prominent people should do the same.”

Dr Michael Head, an expert on vaccines and senior research fellow in global health at the University of Southampton, said: “It is excellent to see the Queen and Prince Philip have accepted their Covid-19 vaccinations. And if the vaccine is good enough for our nonagenarian population, then I’m sure it’s good enough for the rest of us.

“The pandemic doesn’t end if enough of us remain unvaccinated – and a return to normality is surely a good enough incentive.” Dr Gillies O’Bryan-Tear, chairman of ­policy and communications at the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Medicine, welcomed the news. He said: “The Queen and Prince Philip are in the high-risk category.

“Luckily, they didn’t catch the virus from Prince Charles and I welcome news that they have had the vaccine and the example they are showing.

“We don’t seem to have a big anti-vax problem that has been seen in France and the United States and the latest polls show that 75 per cent are willing to have a jab.

“Anti-vaxxers are more hardcore. I don’t think celebrity figures announcing their vaccinations will make much difference to this group.

“However there is a larger group of people who are hesitant about vaccines for whom the example of the Queen could well send a good signal.

“However the Queen is quite elderly and people in their 60s and 70s might see her as exceptional as she is so much older.

“We will only get through the four main priority groups by mid-February and we won’t get to the majority of the population until the end of the year.

“The virus will still circulate in those groups but there will be a lower level of prevalence.

“However the mortality curve will start to go down and, as it does, we will have to ease the restrictions for the sake of the economy and collateral harms.”

The Queen and the Duke are not the first royals in the world to announce they have been vaccinated.

Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, who is 80, announced that she had been vaccinated on New Year’s Day. 

Other members of our own Royal Family have made it clear that they will follow Government guidelines and only get the jabs when it is the turn for their age group.

Last month Charles told staff administering the Pfizer vaccination at Gloucestershire Royal Hospital: “I think I am way down the list and will have to wait.

“I think I’ll have to wait for the AstraZeneca one before it gets to my turn. I’m some way down the list.”

Historically, there are several royal precedents for going public on getting novel vaccinations or tackling pressing health threats.

In January 1957, the Queen let it be known that Prince Charles and Princess Anne, then aged eight and six, had been vaccinated against polio amid safety concerns after children died and other developed the disease when they had the jab in the United States.

Going back much further, George II’s wife, Queen Caroline, and George III’s wife, Queen Charlotte, helped to popularise smallpox vaccination by publicising their own family’s experiences.

More recently, Prince Harry, before he quit royal duties, had HIV tests in front of the cameras in Britain and Barbados in 2016 in an effort to persuade others to do the same.

His decision led to a huge upsurge in ­people getting tests.

The pandemic has thrown the lives of the Royal Family into chaos like everyone else. Last year the Queen and her family only did half the number of engagements they fulfilled in 2019.

Of the Queen’s 127 engagements, 71 were done by phone or video because of the virus.

She has largely been isolating at Windsor Castle with Prince Philip since the start of the pandemic and is likely to be confined to mostly remote engagements for some months to come.

Comment by Margaret Holder

The statement that the Queen and Prince Philip have had their Covid-19 jabs will give a huge boost to the Government’s campaign to get the nation vaccinated in the face of a silent, invisible killer virus.

At 94 and 99 respectively, the royal couple were among the first groups to be offered the vaccine.

The announcement will give the public confidence in the safety and efficacy of the immunisation programme.

We are not told whether the royal couple were given the Oxford-AstraZeneca or Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine – that too will help the NHS, as it desperately tries to inoculate as many people as possible and will discourage people from waiting for one type of vaccine over another.

The Queen is the country’s number one influencer: her stamp of approval will help to encourage her subjects to ignore the unfounded claims of ‘anti-vaxxers’ and misinformation spreaders. No one but the Queen has that kind of prestige.

Her impassioned speech last April had a huge impact on a nation struggling to come to terms with lockdown – an alien concept to a free, modern democracy. Her words “we will meet again” are just as relevant now in our third period of lockdown.

In the dark days of the Second World War, she learnt from her father and mother, George VI and Queen Elizabeth, the importance of personal example in raising the morale of a beleaguered country.

The Queen is still in good health.

She is maximising these last years of her reign to leave a solid legacy for the continuation of the monarchy.

• Margaret Holder has been writing about the Royal Family in newspapers and magazines for thirty years

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