Queen speaks of 'horrible' experience of testing positive for coronavirus
The 95-year-old monarch said she was left feeling 'tired and exhausted'
Last updated 29th May 2022
The Queen has spoken publicly for the first time about her experience of having coronavirus.
Her Majesty tested positive for the virus in February, with Buckingham Palace stating she displayed "mild, cold-like symptoms".
But the monarch, aged 95, described her ordeal with COVID as taxing, saying that the virus had left her 'tired and exhausted'.
The Queen made the comments whilst on a virtual visit to the Royal London Hospital on Wednesday (April 6th), as part of the formal opening of the Queen Elizabeth Unit in the hospital.
Over 800 people were treated at the 155-bed unit at the hospital, which was built in five weeks to meet the demand in the midst of the COVID pandemic.
Speaking to medical staff and former patients, the Queen said of the virus: "It does leave one very tired and exhausted, doesn't it? This horrible pandemic. It's not a nice result."
The Queen also heard the story of Asef Hussain, who had been left on a ventilator when he was struck with the virus.
The third member of his family to have the virus, Mr Hussain was admitted in December 2020 and was left in a critical condition as two of his other family members passed away from the virus.
Mr Hussain spent seven weeks on a ventilator in the unit, but has started to recover and is now out of a wheelchair, to which the Queen remarked: "I'm glad that you're getting better".
At the end of her virtual tour of the hospital, Her Majesty met a host of construction workers who helped to speed up the building of the unit from five months to five weeks.
Chatting to those who built the 14th and 15th floors of the hospital that makes up the unit, the Queen praised the "Dunkirk spirit" of the team, adding: "It is very interesting, isn't it, when there is some very vital thing, how everybody works together and pulls together - marvellous isn't it?".
Following her battle with COVID in February, the Queen has since returned to royal duties and is now capable of entertaining audiences at her royal residences.