Queen and Prince Philip get Covid vaccine at Windsor Castle

he Queen and Prince Philip have both received the first dose of Covid-19 vaccinations, Buckingham Palace has confirmed.

The royal couple were given the jab by a doctor from the Royal Household at Windsor Castle, where they are both isolating.

The Queen, 94, and the Duke of Edinburgh, 99, both meet the Government age guidelines for those who should be given the vaccine.

A Buckingham Palace spokesperson said today: “The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh have today received Covid-19 vaccinations.”

A royal source confirmed the vaccine was administered by a Household Doctor at Windsor Castle.

It is unusual for the Palace to comment on private health matters of the monarch and the duke.

It has not been disclosed which of the vaccines the Royal couple have received.

Some 1.3 million people in the UK have now received their first dose of a Covid vaccine, according to the government.

In England, that includes nearly a quarter of the most elderly, vulnerable patients.

The Queen and Philip have been spending the lockdown in England sheltering at their Windsor Castle home after deciding to have a quiet Christmas at their Berkshire residence, and forgo the traditional royal family gathering at Sandringham.

It is not known which vaccine the Queen and duke were given but it is likely they will receive their second dose up to 12 weeks later.

In America, key public figures have been photographed while being inoculated, with president-elect Joe Biden appearing on live television when he received a dose in December.

Making the Queen and duke’s inoculations public is likely to have the added effect of giving sceptical members of the public more confidence in the vaccine.

Charles was described as having mild symptoms and lost his sense of taste and smell for a period, while it was reported his son William was hit “pretty hard” by the virus.

On a visit to a vaccination centre at Gloucestershire Royal Hospital before Christmas, Charles said he is “way down the list” for an inoculation.

The latest jab, from US biotech firm Moderna, has been given the green light by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency – joining the vaccines from Pfizer/BioNTech and Oxford/AstraZeneca which are already being used in the UK.

Nearly 1.5 million people in the UK have already been vaccinated with either the Pfizer or AstraZeneca vaccine, with the Government aiming to jab 15 million of those most at risk by mid-February.