Archduke of Austria Karl von Habsburg becomes first royal to test positive for coronavirus

The 59-year-old has chosen to self-isolate to protect others from the virus
People Picture/Jens Hartmann/Shu
Sara Feigin17 March 2020

The Archduke of Austria, Karl von Habsburg, age 59, has become the first royal to be diagnosed with coronavirus.

The Archduke is the head of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine and is the grandson of the last Emperor of Austria, Charles I of Austria.

He began suffering from COVID-19 symptoms sometime last week, which he confirmed to the Austrian TV channel oe24.

Jens Hartmann/Shutterstock

While speaking with the television channel the Archduke said, “I thought it was the usual flu. When a friend called me to say that he had a positive test at a congress in Switzerland, so I was also tested.”

The Archduke has isolated himself from his family and remains quarantined alone, having a friend drop groceries off at his front door every other day.

He told oe24, “When my friend called me there a few days later and said that he had the coronavirus, I knew that I should also be tested. I was out with him for two days.”

People Picture/Shutterstock

The Austrian aristocrat called the coronavirus hotline and it took less than a day for the Red Cross to come to his home in order to take samples from him and run tests.

After his tests came back positive the Austrian police gave him a separation notice, urging him to self-isolate from friends and family.

Action Press/Shutterstock

The Archduke has three children with his estranged wife Baroness Francesca Thyssen-Bornemisza - model Eleonore, 26, racing driver Ferdinand Zvonimir, 22, and Gloria, 20.

While von Habsburg may be the first Royal to test positive for coronavirus, Spain’s Queen Letizia and King Felipe VI of Spain have both also been tested for the virus, but their tests came back negative.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in