The Queen’s staff have regular coronavirus tests and work in three week shifts

Here’s everything you need to know…

(Image credit: AFP via Getty Images)

Here’s everything you need to know…

Coronavirus has changed life as we know it. And with the UK on lockdown, extreme measures are being taken.

The UK government has issued guidelines to follow in order to control the outbreak, with even members of the royal family following suit.

Prince William and Kate Middleton are on lockdown in their Anmer Hall home with their three children and Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, have left their Clarence House London residence to spend the lockdown in Balmoral, Scotland.

It is the Queen however who the public is most concerned with, quarantining in Windsor Castle and taking every precaution, being tended to by a ‘skeleton staff’, with reports that not even close family members are allowed to see her.

‘Obviously, the fewer people are in contact with each other, the better,’ a source explained via the Daily Mail. ‘No chances can be taken with the Queen’s safety in view of her and the Duke’s ages. But it’s also for the benefit of everyone who works at the Castle.’

The source continued: ‘Every firm has been told to send as many of their staff home as possible, and the Royal Family is no different….The Queen is being looked after by her closest servants, while a couple of grooms and stable lads are looking after the horses. Like everywhere else, normal life is being put on hold.’

But while it was widely reported that the Queen and Prince Philip were being tended to by a team of eight, it has since been reported that the couple are actually quarantining with 24 staff members, working in two separate groups of 12 on rotation.

The staff are working ‘three weeks on, three weeks off’ and having their temperatures taken regularly.

The staff members in question are not allowed to see their family during quarantine, with a royal insider explaining: ‘They won’t be seeing their families because no risks can be taken and they can’t go in and out. The most important thing is to protect the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh from the virus. If something happened to them it doesn’t bear thinking about.’

The royal family has not commented.

Jenny Proudfoot
Features Editor

Jenny Proudfoot is an award-winning journalist, specialising in lifestyle, culture, entertainment, international development and politics. She has worked at Marie Claire UK for seven years, rising from intern to Features Editor and is now the most published Marie Claire writer of all time. She was made a 30 under 30 award-winner last year and named a rising star in journalism by the Professional Publishers Association.