Danish queen tests positive for Covid after attending Queen Elizabeth's funeral

This is the second time Queen Margrethe II has caught the virus

Denmark's Queen Margrethe pays her respects at the coffin of Britain's Queen Elizabeth. AP

Denmark’s Queen Margrethe II has tested positive for Covid-19 after attending the funeral of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II, the Danish royal palace said on Wednesday.

The news came after it emerged Queen Margrethe's daughter-in-law was accidentally invited to the funeral, resulting in an embarrassing last-minute revocation by Buckingham palace.

Invitations were sent to current heads of state, allowing each to bring one guest. But the UK Foreign Office on Wednesday admitted the rushed circumstances meant a mistake was made and Crown Princess Mary was invited.

In the event, Queen Margrethe, 82, was accompanied to the funeral by Princess Mary's husband Crown Prince Frederik, her oldest son and heir to the throne.

The royal household said that Queen Margrethe, 82, who has been on the throne for 50 years, cancelled her official duties after the Tuesday night test.

Prince Frederick appears to have tested negative as the statement said he and Princess Mary would take the queen’s place and host a dinner with Danish government officials and members of parliament.

Queen Margrethe previously tested positive for the virus in February. At the time, the palace said she had received three doses of a Covid vaccine.

Her half-century reign makes her Europe’s longest-serving monarch after the September 8 death of Queen Elizabeth, 96, who ruled for 70 years.

Out of respect for the late British monarch, she had asked her court to adjust the September 10-11 programme for her own 50-year anniversary commemorations. Among the events she cancelled at short notice was appearing on the Amalienborg Palace balcony to greet well-wishers and a ride in a horse-drawn carriage through Copenhagen.

She was proclaimed queen on January 15, 1972, a day after her father, King Frederik IX, died after a short illness.

Queen Elizabeth II with world leaders through the years - in pictures