Prince Albert has been pretty busy in recent days. On Sunday, he took his twins to the International Circus Festival in Monaco. Princess Charlene was not around, but Camille Gottlieb – Princess Stephanie’s daughter – was there, as was Louis Ducruet, who is Stephanie’s son. So, Albert brought out his niece, nephew and his two youngest children (that we know of). Albert also spent time with Louis and Camille on Monday, at the Fight AIDS Cup at the Louis II Stadium. Lots of maskless people, lots of close contact, and wouldn’t you know… Prince Albert caught Covid again. For the third time!
Prince Albert of Monaco has tested positive for COVID-19 again. Albert, 64, tested positive late Tuesday afternoon, according to the palace, marking the third time he’s had the illness.
A press statement from the palace says Prince Albert is asymptomatic and there is no concern for his health. According to the palace, he will continue to work from a remote location and remains in consultation with members of his cabinet and government. He will remain in isolation under the current health rules in force in the Principality.
Prince Albert was the first world leader to contract the virus in March 2020, spending two weeks in isolation. Speaking to PEOPLE in December 2020, he revealed experiencing “long haul syndrome” and suffering episodes of “marked fatigue” months later.
“There were times during the day when it just hit, but not like the kind of drowsiness you feel after a heavy meal. It was really just an experience of physical fatigue, like the kind that comes on when you’ve done too much or when you’re coming off an illness,” he told PEOPLE. “This virus stays with you quite a while.”
The royal’s second bout with coronavirus occurred in the spring of 2022. Speaking to PEOPLE last month, Prince Albert recalled, “The last time I tested positive was last April when I was supposed to go to New York. I had zero symptoms. I would never have known if I wasn’t forced to take a test to travel then.”
See, this makes me suspicious of my own history during the pandemic. I never tested positive for anything, and the only time I felt like I might have something (last spring), I’m pretty sure it was a short-lived respiratory cold, not Covid. Granted, Albert is much more public-facing than me. He shakes hands, he’s in a very public job, he has rarely worn masks in the past year and it would appear that he’s just highly susceptible to Covid. That’s what I’m wondering more and more – I doubt I’m immune, but I guess I’m just not super-susceptible to it? Is that a thing? It feels like there is a small number of us who just… never caught Covid regardless of what we were doing.
Photos courtesy of Backgrid and Olivier Huitel / Avalon.
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- NO TABLOID – H.S.H. Prince Albert II of Monaco poses with His nephew Louis Ducruet as they attend the Fight AIDS Cup 2023 charity football match between Prince Albert II of Monaco’s team th ‘Barbagiuans’ and Princess Stephanie’s team the ‘Cirque FC’ at the Louis II Stadium. On January 23, 2023 in Monaco.,Image: 751289444, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: NO TABLOID, Model Release: no, Credit line: Olivier Huitel / Avalon
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- NO TABLOID – H.S.H. Prince Albert II of Monaco attends the Fight AIDS Cup 2023 charity football match between Prince Albert II of Monaco’s team th ‘Barbagiuans’ and Princess Stephanie’s team the ‘Cirque FC’ at the Louis II Stadium. On January 23, 2023 in Monaco.,Image: 751290170, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: NO TABLOID, Model Release: no, Credit line: Olivier Huitel / Avalon
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- NO TABLOID – H.S.H. Prince Albert II of Monaco and Camille Gottlieb attend the Fight AIDS Cup 2023 charity football match between Prince Albert II of Monaco’s team th ‘Barbagiuans’ and Princess Stephanie’s team the ‘Cirque FC’ at the Louis II Stadium. On January 23, 2023 in Monaco.,Image: 751290327, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: NO TABLOID, Model Release: no, Credit line: Olivier Huitel / Avalon
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- Monaco, MONACO – Prince Albert II of Monaco and his children during the 3rd day of the 45th International Circus Festival of Monte Carlo under the Fontvieille marquee in Monaco. Pictured: Prince Albert II of Monaco BACKGRID USA 22 JANUARY 2023 BYLINE MUST READ: Best Image / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- Monaco, MONACO – Prince Albert II of Monaco and his children during the 3rd day of the 45th International Circus Festival of Monte Carlo under the Fontvieille marquee in Monaco. Pictured: Prince Albert II of Monaco BACKGRID USA 22 JANUARY 2023 BYLINE MUST READ: Best Image / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- Monaco, MONACO – Prince Albert II of Monaco and his children during the 3rd day of the 45th International Circus Festival of Monte Carlo under the Fontvieille marquee in Monaco. Pictured: Prince Albert II of Monaco BACKGRID USA 22 JANUARY 2023 BYLINE MUST READ: Best Image / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
I worked with the public throughout the pandemic and somehow never caught it. Everyone around me did, I don’t know how I avoided it. I also feel somehow less susceptible, but I did mask up in public until a few months ago.
I’ve read some theory that if your blood type is O, you’re less suceptible. I’m hardcore about wearing a mask everywhere I go. I haven’t had it. I did get a mild head cold in December but that’s it. I didn’t test myself though as I had no other symptoms. No fever, no body aches, no cough. I have a best friend who is just as hard core as I am and she caught it twice.
The only person in my immediate family to get it was my brother and he barely had any symptoms. The rest of my family is decidedly less hard core about masking but they still do it.
I don’t know if it’s genetic. There is one strange pattern in our family, we never get the flu. Not once. It’s weird. One of my brothers wife and kids caught the flu but my brother never did.
No idea if this is related. PS. My immediate family are all Type O.
I’m type O and I’ve had it twice! But I am a sample size of one so not exactly statistically valid. I have been careful throughout but I’m pretty sure that my first one was picked up when I had to go into London for a (maskless but in a big/well ventilated room) session with a client.
I do know a few people who have (so far) avoided it (to their knowledge), there’s got to be something underlying that makes them more resistant. My MiL spent ten days in a small house with her husband and brother infected and she was fine.
I think this was speculation early on that didn’t hold up under scientific scrutiny. I have type O blood and have had Covid 4 times. Lucky me!
I am type O and have also not gotten Covid – however my kids are type AB and have also not gotten Covid. My son never wore a mask well – his teachers all commented on it, my daughter wore hers as directed, I wore mine where and when required, but not otherwise. So – my theory is that we are all of Vitamin D3 for not absorbing it well naturally, and we all take a prescribed amount daily.
I do feel like it is inevitable and we will get it eventually. Hopefully it will stay mild since we are all fully vaxxed
I rarely catch anything and my blood type is 0-, but I’ve had Covid three times since last April although I work from home and have very little contact with people…
Type O, got it twice – and I’m that lady who vaxxed/boosted and still masks on the bus and at the grocery store. Sadly, it seems blood type isn’t a strong factor.
I never had it and never even had something I thought could have been it.
I hope I didn’t sound smug.
I should have added that I have both vaccines and both boosters, plus annual flu shots. I do wear masks. I am immunocompromised (chemo for breast cancer), and I am so grateful to have escaped covid (if I did).
Me either. I’ve not been sick since pre-covid. I have all the shots and mask almost all of the time, been exposed a few times (and frankly a few times I should have because those were the few times I was mask-free) and still haven’t gotten it. I know that probably nobody is immune and at any minute my time is up, but it’s literally been three years. I wish I could medically find out if I am immune, but they won’t even study you unless you work in a hospital.
Yup, never got COVID although I worked from home and don’t have kids. I did fly twice in the height of the pandemic to take care of my folks though. Still nothing.
I also had very few/no side effects to the vaccine and have never had the regular flu (or the flu shot). So maybe I have a weird immunity to flu-like viruses? Dunno.
I never react to shots and I’ve been seriously ill very few times. I don’t tend to catch stuff for the most part.
I’m the last of my FOO who has *not* gotten covid, but I mask everywhere.
Me too. My adult daughter caught it but luckily we are very mask and vaccine compliant. They did go to Italy for their honeymoon, in 6/22, though they did not catch it, they waited a full 10 days after returning home from seeing me, as I am immune compromised. Though I live in Texas, I double mask even if I go through a drive through for food or meds. I suffer from chronic pain and my excursions are limited to doctor, hospital and dentist so the reason as to why I haven’t caught it, I think, is due to my own isolation.
The irresponsibility is so infuriating. His third round of something that we still don’t know all of the long-term effects of, and what we do know is horrifying.
Half my household is immunocompromised and so we refuse to be maskless anywhere we go and haven’t done much at all for going on three years. Yet so many people are so flippant, acting like this is a cold – when thousands are still dying in this country *daily*.
This isn’t going away because people can’t be bothered to do the bare minimum. It’s gross, irresponsible, and callous.
I know a guy who’s had it FOUR times. He works in a school.
But yeah, I don’t get why after so many times you don’t mask.
Never had it that I know of – I’m the last holdout in my household. Everyone else has had it.
I’ve also had it three times, plus have had the vaccine shot 4 times and still wear a mask everywhere. My husband has had it twice and our kids have each had it once. Neither of us got it when the kids had it. I don’t think anyone truly understands how it spreads and why some people get it and others don’t. I am also immune compromised, so maybe that is why I have gotten it more than once even with a mask? I also got extremely sick each time I got the shot.
Covid is airborne. It spreads through fine aerosols in the air, which people breathe in.
The average person does not test frequently enough to begin to answer the question of whether or not they have had covid in the past three years. This is because of ASYMPTOMATIC infections, i.e. infections without symptoms, which is the majority of infections.
Asymptomatic doesn’t mean you won’t have complications down the road. It also doesn’t mean you can’t spread it.
Reading musings of “hmm I’m maybe not susceptible” underscores just how bad public health messaging has been. It’s quite a dangerous narrative to muse around on a forum like this because it plays into misinformation.
I believe you are right. I have not had Covid to my knowledge, am immunocompromised, had all 4 vaccines and Evusheld twice. My doctor ran some blood work for my autoimmune disease and added Covid anitbody too. My blood work indicates I may have had it. I mask too. I hope I don’t have any long term issues.
@Rebecca, wouldn’t the vaccine show in your bloodwork so that they can’t tell between infection or vaccine? I ask because I’m immunocompromised (also have not tested +) and that’s what my doctor said.
I’m down to 1 other family member who hasn’t tested +, everyone else I know (as of this week) has now tested + at least once.
Keeping my fingers crossed for healthy outcomes !
💯 agree on being asymptomatic. My plumber goes into people’s houses all day long & will never get vaccinated. He’s from eastern Europe and distrusts government’s ability to do vaccines. He’s ‘never had it’ and credits his really strong immune system. That said, he masks at my house or I wouldn’t let him in!
I actually have a sign on my front door, with a ziploc bag of masks, which states explicitly that denies access to anyone without a mask. I haven’t seen my son, DIL nor my grandchildren for no more than 5 times in the last 2+ years due to their refusal to vaccinate. We can only meet outside, in Texas no less, at which time they are expected to wear a mask as I wear two as well.
We literally don’t have any way to find out if we were asymptomatic and had it and didn’t know. All I can go on is every time I’ve been exposed, I had to take a bunch of tests and didn’t get it at any point in time.
Thank you. I have to say that for many people *who don’t think* they’ve gotten covid there is a gross degree of smugness, as if they masked better or the vaccine worked better in them or that they’re naturally immune. Asymptomatic infections are real and if people had their blood checked for antibodies, it would be far fewer people who have never had covid. People who “had a cold” and never bothered to check for covid because it wasn’t bad enough to be covid, congrats, you may have had covid. I assume I had covid last year when one of my children tested positive. That was back when tests were harder to get still so we didn’t waste tests on the adults and just made the assumption that we had it.
And people with chronic diseases and conditions have a reason to still stay out of the world. Most of us do not and cannot. Without a compelling reason, life must resume in a normal-ish fashion for people, especially for children. Lockdowns and virtual school were the correct decision, but they were absolutely brutal for the educations and emotional lives of millions of children. We’re going to be dealing with that, too, for years to come.
This dude’s gonna get Covid every year whether he needs to or not. Especially after experiencing long COVID, you would think he’d be really careful. You would think. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
No one takes this illness seriously anymore. We are going to have millions more people who are permanently disabled in a few years because of it. I haven’t had it, but I basically structure my life around avoiding it. And since I began wearing masks everywhere I haven’t had so much as a head cold.
Oh PLENTY of people still take it seriously (I would never knowingly allow one of my employees who tested positive or who had suspected symptoms to come to work) but you must have immense privilege to be able to “structure [your] life around avoiding it.” Do you not take public transportation? Go to the supermarket? Corner shop? I’ve had it three times but I own a pub. And was masking up when I caught it. Am I meant to shut my business down? Put 20 people out of jobs? Leading virologists are saying it’s with us long term, basically the sister yearly virus to the flu. But it’s not practical for 99% of the population to continue to live under quasi-lockdown. (And I am very pro-masking up, vaccination, testing.)
Shut your business down? No. But masking at all times while working, not just while you’re sick, and insisting your employees do the same? Making sure you and your employees are all up-to-date on your vaccines, testing regularly? Hell yes. It’s the bare minimum you could be doing.
M, I go out–wearing a tight fitting kn 95 mask. No cloth masks which do not work against the newest variants. I don’t use public transportation. Fortunately, I have a car and can drive myself everywhere. I am retired so I am not in a work environment everyday. People I interact/socialize with are mostly just as careful and wear masks in public. I was not bragging about structuring my life around avoiding COVID. Just stating a fact. At my age, although I am mostly healthy, I have no desire to test my reaction to the virus or get long COVID. It’s not the flu. If all this means I have “immense privilege”, so be it. I would never suggest permanent lockdown or that everyone should do what I do.
@ Brassy Rebel, you would think that this arrogant, narcissistic and controlling “man” would take better measures from exposing himself and those around him. But he probably thinks he’s invincible and doesn’t have a need to.
@Brassy Rebel, sorry but your tone did come off as braggy/condescending. So apologies if that was not your intention. But you are very lucky to have the circumstances you have. Everyone I know who either lives in a medium to large city or works in a public facing job has had covid, most of us multiple times, while taking all the precautions, so some of the statements on this thread that it’s because we don’t care or aren’t responsible are not sitting very well.
Sorry if this posts again but my response to @MrsBanjo didn’t post (or I can’t see it). What you are suggesting isn’t the bare minimum. It’s highly illegal and discriminatory. As a business owner I have to follow the law. Hell I wish there was a vaccine mandate, but there isn’t. And without a mask mandate I would get sued. Testing is the only real option besides optional masking, and the government here (UK) has severely limited access to affordable testing of late. If the numbers go up again I do hope that’s amended.
I was in my 3rd round as well. It was def harder than my 2nd and a bit scary because of the cough spells. Thankfully I was able to recoup at home all the 3 times. I still wear masks in public ( I live in NYC and take the public transport daily).
Better now and I just got my booster.
Caught Covid once last Jan. I’m in a public-facing job all day, and my work site became maskless around last Spring. My symptoms were mild, but it really sucked, I lacked a lot of energy, and it was worse at night– I just coughed all night long and was congested in the evenings. I do know people who have caught it at least once but my mother who works with babies and never closed during the Pandemic has never caught it ::knock on wood::
I live with 2 other people who both caught Covid in April 2020 and I tested negative. Even when I got a bad cold in fall 2020 I tested negative so I think there are people who are less susceptible. My family, who both work in health care, also wear masks and were definitely wearing masks back then so it wasn’t that they were being careless.
@ Denise, I am curious how your family members were treated with regards to mask-wearing and strict coronavirus infections. My husband is a local retina specialist here in Texas and the patients became ill tempered as well as refusing to adhere to the restrictions placed on the practice. He had patients come in knowing that they were sick, had tested positive, and would scream and throw tantrums over the masking requirements as well as being infected.
I swear I can’t get out of this state fast enough….
Camille looks so much like Albert that I thought she must be one of his many older kids he’s rumored to have.
As far as I know neither my husband or I have had Covid. We’ve never had reason to test so I suppose we’ll never know 100% that we haven’t had it, but we’ve never had symptoms or been around anyone exposed. That we know of.
I think some people are just not as apt to catch it. I’ve never had it, and I live in NH where not many people masked up for long. My boyfriend caught it last winter. I had both of my shots, and my booster at the time, so I didn’t stay away from him. Since we both work from home we just made sure not to leave the house at all while he was positive and for a while after. I slept next to him the whole time, ate across the table from him, etc. I never got it, and I tested a couple of times to make sure.
This winter I was at a family function for the holidays where a couple people tested positive right after (their second time getting it). I kept testing negative. I’m not pushing my luck with it, I got my booster this year and will keep getting them every year. But I’ve been around enough people by now where it seems like I should have caught it. Either the shots and boosters are just that freakishly effective for me and I was only around strands I got the vax for, or I’m just not prone to it. My flu shots work every year too, I’ve never had that either.
I should add, I’m O+ blood. Maybe a coincidence, but maybe there is something to the type O blood thing.
Me too (both on the blood and not having caught it), but some people in this forum got it with O too 🙁
I haven’t caught it; but it helps that I live alone and have kept people at arm’s lenght all my life! I got my shots the minute they were available, too.
I’m just recovering from my first nasty battle with covid, I assume the XBB variant. It was HORRIBLE. But, I started taking Paxlovid immediately, and the worst was over by day 4, and I tested negative by day 6. I honestly thought after 3 years I had escaped it, as well. Don’t leyt your guard down! I have been super careful for years – I mask, I distance, and wash my hands a lot, and up until 3 months ago, I was working remotely. Then I started working in an office where people just don’t seem that concerned about spreading germs, and BOOM! It absolutely took me and my boyfriend down, and I am so annoyed that the coworker I got it from came to work even though they were very clearly ill. I have gotten 3 vax doses, but it’s been over a year. I haven’t gotten the most recent booster, and I dont plan to. I’m just going to be much diligent at work than I have been, knowing how things go there.
KAISER – FYI: IF you think you may have had COVID within the last year, you can ask for a chest/lung x-ray from your Primary. Your Primary can compare from the last time you took an x-ray – Covid produces a HUGE difference in most people in the chest/lung area.