The Queen has tested positive for coronavirus and is experiencing “mild cold-like symptoms” – but expects to continue light duties at Windsor this week.

While the news will undoubtedly cause alarm, given a number of recent health scares the monarch has suffered, the fact she hopes to continue some work will come as welcome news.

Sky News royal commentator Alastair Bruce said: “I think the Queen’s always been aware that one day she would get it.”

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From ‘HMS Bubble’ to early vaccination, a number of steps have been taken to keep the sovereign safe during the pandemic.

What will doctors do now?

The Royal Household has its own physicians and the Queen’s doctors will be on hand to take of – and monitor – the head of state.

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Queen tests positive for COVID-19, Buckingham Palace says

Professor Sir Huw Thomas, head of the Medical Household and Physician to the Queen, is expected to be in charge.

She has received both her jabs and is understood to have had her booster vaccination. The Queen is expected to follow COVID guidelines on self-isolating after testing positive – despite plans by the prime minister to repeal all pandemic restrictions in England by the end of next week.

Dr David Nicholl, a consultant neurologist working in Birmingham and spokesman for the Doctors Association, said – while he did not know Her Majesty’s full medical background – “I would expect she is going to make a full recovery”.

“I would say, for someone who is fully vaccinated, boosted, they are most likely to have a very mild illness,” he continued. “A bit of a cold and that’s it sort of thing.

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“It’s difficult because if someone is elderly, the age of 95 or so, people can get other things.”

Vaccines, he said, have made a “jaw-dropping difference” to the impact of COVID on elderly people.

Possible use of anti-viral drugs

Her doctors, Dr Nicholl said, would likely be keeping an eye on her breathing and oxygen levels.

“If people have got pre-existing conditions, anti-viral treatments may now be relevant,” he added.

“The Queen is going to have the best possible care – and she has done absolutely everything right all the way along.

“I think she is definitely sensible to know how much, or how little to do.”

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Of her plans to isolate, he said: “If we all acted like the Queen, we’d be in a much better place.”

Professor Paul Hunter, an infectious disease expert at the University of East Anglia, said someone in their 90s is at increased risk from the virus, so anti-viral drugs Ronapreve and Molnupiravir would be an option.

He said: “If you do get them early enough it does reduce the risk of severe disease developing so I would imagine any doctor for a patient in their 90s would be considering giving these anti-virals out.”

Nearly all severe COVID infections begin with mild symptoms, he explained: “With somebody in their mid-90s, even if they’re triple vaccinated you are concerned that they could gradually deteriorate over coming days and so you would need to keep a very careful eye on them.”

The Queen’s recent health scares

The decision to continue with her duties, despite testing positive for COVID, is in line with the monarch’s no-fuss approach to illness.

In the past, she has been known for her strong constitution and infrequent ill health however, in recent months she has suffered some difficulties.

Read more: Which other members of the Royal Family have had COVID?

Last year, she was pictured using a walking stick at a Westminster Abbey service – believed to be the first time she has used one at a major public event.

She was given doctors’ orders to rest in mid-October and she cancelled a run of engagements and spent a night in hospital undergoing preliminary tests.

In November, she was unable to attend the Cenotaph on Remembrance Sunday after spraining her back.

On Wednesday, the sovereign, standing holding a walking stick, remarked during an in-person audience: “Well, as you can see, I can’t move.”

Buckingham Palace declined to comment but it is understood she had been feeling slightly stiff – rather than being injured or unwell.

‘HMS bubble’: How the Queen was kept safe during COVID

The Queen has spent much of the pandemic in the safety of Windsor Castle, protected in HMS Bubble, the nickname given to her reduced household of 20 dedicated staff.

She was joined in lockdown by the Duke of Edinburgh, as both were vulnerable to the virus due to their advanced age.

On 9 January 2021, the then-94-year-old Queen and 99-year-old duke received their first COVID vaccines.

Buckingham Palace took the rare step of confirming what would usually have been a private medical matter, as the national rollout of the injections gathered pace.

Prince Philip had heart surgery in March 2021 but returned to Windsor where he died a few weeks later in his sleep.

Due to ongoing coronavirus restrictions, the Queen had to sit alone at his funeral.

Over Christmas, as Omicron cases surged across the UK, the Queen cancelled her annual family gathering at her Norfolk estate. Instead, she flew alone to Sandringham and returned to Windsor in early February.

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