The Queen has held her weekly telephone audience with the prime minister despite having COVID-19, Buckingham Palace said.

The monarch, 95, has been suffering mild COVID symptoms after testing positive for the virus on Sunday.

A Buckingham Palace spokesman said: “Her Majesty did speak to the prime minister this evening.”

On Tuesday, she cancelled her planned virtual engagements.

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The Queen, who has avoided catching COVID for the best part of two years, has spent much of the pandemic in the safety of Windsor Castle, where there has been a tightly-controlled and limited rota of staff nicknamed “HMS Bubble”.

Celebrations for her Platinum Jubilee of 70 years on the throne – a milestone reached on 6 February – begin in June.

Her Majesty, the UK’s longest reigning monarch, recently spent more than three months resting on doctors’ orders.

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She withdrew from attending the COP26 climate change summit in Glasgow, the Festival of Remembrance and the Remembrance Sunday Cenotaph service in the autumn after suffering a sprained back.

Next week, the Queen is due to host the Diplomatic Reception and meet hundreds of dignitaries at Windsor.

She and Boris Johnson – the 14th prime minister during her reign – hold a weekly audience on Wednesdays following Prime Minister’s Questions in the Commons.

The call has largely been by telephone throughout the pandemic.

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