Prince William continued working and made 14 telephone and video calls all while battling with the virus. Video / The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge
Prince William's decision not to reveal that he had been struck down with coronavirus has been branded a "retrograde step" by British experts who stress the importance of transparency from the royal family.
The Duke of Cambridge was "very ill" with Covid-19 at the height of the pandemic but "broke with precedent" by keeping his diagnosis a secret because the nation was already scared, it emerged yesterday.
The Duke, 38, began showing symptoms when Prime Minister Boris Johnson was in hospital at the beginning of April.
He struggled to breathe and was treated by doctors before isolating at the family home, Anmer Hall, in Norfolk.
It is believed he quarantined away from his wife, the Duchess of Cambridge, and their three children for a week.
A Kensington Palace source defended the decision not to reveal that the Duke had tested positive, claiming the public was already worried enough as both the Prime Minister and Prince Charles had recently contracted the virus.
"People were scared. People were already worried enough without us adding to that," the source said.
The Duke of Cambridge, 38, began showing symptoms when Prime Minister Boris Johnson was in hospital at the beginning of April. Photo / AP
"At that point everybody was coming down with the disease. The Prime Minister was in hospital.
"It didn't seem like it was helpful to public consciousness and morale to start worrying people further [to say] that both future monarchs and the prime minister of this country are all very ill at this point."
The Duke is thought to have fallen ill at the beginning of April.
He joined the Duchess for a conference call with primary school teachers and pupils on April 8 but did not appear by her side on camera again until the couple took part in a joint BBC interview to promote mental health on April 17.
The previous day, he had opened the NHS Nightingale Hospital Birmingham at the National Exhibition Centre via video link.
UK Government guidelines state that anyone with symptoms should self-isolate for seven days, while everyone living in their household should self-isolate for two weeks, as the Duchess of Cornwall did following Prince Charles' diagnosis.
The delayed revelation about the Duke's illness caused consternation among some, who suggested that for the sake of transparency, he should have followed in his father's footsteps and announced his diagnosis at the time.
Joe Little, managing editor of Majesty magazine, said: "I think, with the benefit of hindsight, it would have been sensible once he was fully recovered to say 'Well, look, I've had it, but I'm OK now'."
"It kind of makes you wonder what else is being suppressed.
"It's all about transparency these days and this is a retrograde step, I suppose."
Penny Junor, the royal biographer, branded the decision "very odd" and not in keeping with usual practice, citing the times the public was told when Prince Charles was injured playing polo and when Prince William suffered a depressed fracture to the forehead during an accident at school in 1991.
"I would have thought William having coronavirus was also in the spirit of that precedent," she said.
"We perhaps should have known because he's not a private individual."
She added: "We do normally know things that are regarded as in the public interest if anything happens to one of our leaders."
Junor added: "Prince Charles was able to speak with and be alongside people who had also had it.
"Instead of being a sort of precious royal who was wrapped up in cotton wool and kept away and immune to the diseases that the rest of the world gets, he had suffered.
"And I think it might have been helpful if we'd known that William had also had the virus."
