The Queen will continue her Balmoral holiday, despite a close call with COVID when a worker on the Scottish estate tested positive for the virus.

The monarch, who is 95 and vaccinated, skipped last Sunday’s regular church service while it is thought she was awaiting her own test result.

Britain’s Sun newspaper reports the employee was sent home on Saturday after their test.

“All the staff at Balmoral are tested for COVID daily and on Saturday this person showed up as positive,” a source told the paper.

“They were sent home and the staff canteen and bar were shut. They’re on a separate block on the estate.

“Workers have been told to wear masks and to socially distance but the royals themselves are pretty much carrying on as they were.”

It is the Queen’s first summer holiday at Balmoral since the death of  Prince Philip in April.

She is said to have been enjoying a break with her son Prince Andrew and his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson, as well as her youngest son Prince Edward and his wife Sophie when the result came in. The Yorks’ pregnant daughter Princess Beatrice and her husband Edoardo Mozzi were also apparently at the Scottish retreat.

None of the visiting royals attended last weekend’s church service. The Queen is said to want to be careful but “she does not want to overreact”.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and their three children are expected to arrive in Scotland later this month.

-with agencies