The Queen and Prince Philip Received COVID Vaccines Today in Windsor, Buckingham Palace Confirms

• Earlier today, at Windsor Castle, the Queen and her husband, Prince Philip (opens in new tab), received COVID-19 vaccines.
• Buckingham Palace (opens in new tab) confirmed the news, even though reps for the royal family had previously insisted that no such confirmation would be issued.
• Royal correspondent Rebecca English reported the news on Twitter.

The Queen (opens in new tab) and her husband, Prince Philip (opens in new tab), have officially received COVID-19 vaccines, the Palace has confirmed.

Daily Mail royal correspondent and all-around royal expert Rebecca English (opens in new tab) shared the news on Twitter today, writing (opens in new tab), "Breaking: The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh have today received #COVD vaccinations at Windsor Castle, Buckingham Palace announce. A source confirms these have been administered by a Household Doctor. HMQ decided to confirm the news to prevent 'inaccuracies and speculation.'"

In a followup tweet, English elaborated on the Queen's decision (opens in new tab) to reverse course on the issue, since the Palace had previously insisted that the royals would not confirm when or even if the monarch had been vaccinated. 

"As recently as Thursday Buckingham Palace were firmly saying that they had no plans to confirm whether HMQ had been vaccinated as it was a ‘private medical matter,'" English wrote. "But the speculation, of course, continued. It was the Queen’s personal decision to make the news public."

In the United Kingdom, the first doses of the COIVD-19 vaccine are being administered to frontline healthcare workers, nursing home employees, and elderly people over 80 years old (opens in new tab). At 94- and 99-years-old, respectively, the Queen and Prince Philip (opens in new tab) qualify and, as such, weren't given special treatment or access to the vaccine because of their royal status.