Charlie Smith
PRINCE Joachim of Belgium has tested positive for COVID-19 after he attended a house party in Andalucia.
The 28-year-old aristocrat nephew of King Philippe was among 27 revellers at a property in Cordoba.
The young royal, who is ninth in line to the throne, jetted into Madrid on Sunday, before hopping on an AVE train to Cordoba the same day.
On Tuesday he then rocked up to the ‘family and friends’ bash, which also saw five people attend from Sevilla.
The morning after on Wednesday, the Prince noticed he had coronavirus symptoms, before he took a PCR test on Thursday.
His positive result came back on Friday, which the health services in Cordoba then reported to the Ministry of Health.
On Thursday the Junta de Andalucia denounced the social gathering, which is a flagrant breach of Spain’s state of alarm and tourism rules.
At the time of the party Cordoba was – and still is – in Phase 2, which does not permit gatherings of more than 15 people.
Also, the whole of Spain still has a quarantine in place for international travellers, which requires them to self-isolate for two weeks upon arrival.
The deputy delegate of the Government in Cordoba, Rafaela Valenzuela has today spoken out about the events involving the young Prince.
He said: “I feel surprise and indignation that in a moment of national mourning for so many deceased, an event of this kind draws so much attention.
“This is unforgivable. The police are investigating not only the monitoring of the confinement, but also the infractions of the rules, as we remain in a state of alarm. The virus is still there.”
Some conflicting initial reports suggested that the Prince had flown into Madrid from the US, rather than Brussels.
All those who attended the get-together have been ordered to quarantine, as police now weigh up dishing out fines of between €600 and €10,000.
The details of this latest celebrity lockdown breach were confirmed by Belgian news site Sud Info and Spain’s ABC Cordoba.
It was not until this morning that the identity of the Belgian partygoer was revealed as Prince Joachim, from the House of Austria-Este.
He is known to have strong ties to Cordoba, which is the birthplace of his 28-year-old law graduate girlfriend Victoria Ortiz.
She is believed to work as a designer and is from a ‘well-known’ family in the agricultural sector.
Joachim studied business after his year of military training, before working in finance and announcing he would continue his studies at Harvard University.
