LONDON -- Twitter went into a brief meltdown Wednesday morning after a BBC journalist erroneously tweeted that Queen Elizabeth was being treated in hospital while the broadcaster was doing an obituary rehearsal.
"During a technical rehearsal for an obituary, tweets were mistakenly sent from the account of a BBC journalist saying that a member of the royal family had been taken ill. The tweets were swiftly deleted and we apologise for any offence," the BBC said in a statement released on Twitter.
Within moments of BBC journalist Ahmen Khawaja sending the tweet, she deleted it, but not before other people and news organisations had retweeted it.
Khawaja dismissed the tweet, commenting that it was a silly prank.
A CNN account was forced to tell its affiliates to disregard a previous tweet, which said the Queen was in hospital.
Affiliates, please disregard our previous tweet about Queen Elizabeth. It was sent in error.— CNN Newsource (@CNNNewsource) June 3, 2015
While German newspaper Bild corrected its previous tweet.
+++EILMELDUNG+++ Die Queen liegt im Krankenhaus. Gleich mehr auf BILD.de pic.twitter.com/8iUQgLqk9I— BILD (@BILD) June 3, 2015
Queen nicht im Krankenhaus. Buckingham Palast gibt bekannt, dass die Nachricht falsch ist.— BILD (@BILD) June 3, 2015
Buckingham Palace commented that the Queen had in fact been to hospital on Wednesday but only for a routine check-up and had returned home.
Buckingham Palace says the Queen attended her annual medical check-up at the King Edward VII Hospital in London today.— Richard Palmer (@RoyalReporter) June 3, 2015
A Buckingham Palace spokesman says: "This was a routine, pre-scheduled appointment. The Queen has now left hospital."— Richard Palmer (@RoyalReporter) June 3, 2015
The palace confirmed the Queen's private medical visit after there was speculation on social media about her health.— Richard Palmer (@RoyalReporter) June 3, 2015
Looks like it's business as usual for the 89-year-old monarch.
The Queen is set to attend the Centenary AGM of the National Federation of Women's Institutes at the @RoyalAlbertHall tomorrow.— James Brookes (@james_elliott_) June 3, 2015