Queen Elizabeth II, Prince William criticised for not wearing masks at public event

UK’s Queen Elizabeth II, who stepped out for the first public engagement since COVID-19 pandemic, and Prince William are receiving backlash on social media for not wearing facemasks in public. The 94-year-old monarch and her grandson, the Duke of Cambridge met with scientists at the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) near Salisbury to provide essential support to those handling the pandemic. However, since the royal duo skipped wearing facemasks, especially when there is a resurgence of coronavirus infections in Europe, netizens said they are “disappointed” in the Royal Family.

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Netizens call is ‘disgraceful’

From calling it a “disgraceful” step from the royal family to questioning why COVID-19 guidelines are different for them, internet users unleashed severe criticism on social media. While the Royal family posted the images from the event on Twitter, hundreds of British citizens, as well as other people, commented on why they need to “set an example” instead to motivating people to violate the government-proposed precautionary measures. However, the Queen and Prince William were seen maintaining distance.

After the pictures garnered a massive amount of attraction, Buckingham palace reportedly said that the Queen had decided to not wear a mask only on the consultation of her physicians and scientists at the research facility. Meanwhile, as per iTV report, at least 48 people who were supposed to come in close contact with the members of the royal family were tested for COVID-19 and the results were negative. Sky News reported that the media personnel were not allowed close to the visitors and the Queen had arrived by helicopter while Prince William arrived by car. Despite the measures, netizens seemed unimpressed.

Just last week, Buckingham palace had informed that Queen's daughter-in-law, Sophie, the Countess of Wessex, was under home-quarantine after her potential exposure to COVID-19. This was not the first time a member of the royal family had to self-isolate due to the risk of contracting the novel coronavirus. Earlier this year, both Prince Charles and Camilla had quarantined themselves separately after Charles began experiencing mild symptoms and tested positive for COVID-19 while Camilla tested negative. Since then, Prince of Wales has fully recovered.

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