There was confusion on Wednesday after a BBC journalist tweeted that Queen Elizabeth was "being treated" in a local hospital, causing alarm on Twitter. Reporter Ahmen Khawaja tweeted: "BREAKING: Queen Elizabeth is being treated at King Edward 7th Hospital in London. Statement due shortly: @BBCWorld."
Buckingham Palace was forced to issue a statement clarifying that the Queen had in fact had a "routine, pre-scheduled appointment" in King Edward VII Hospital. The monarch was soon back at the Palace after what was an annual medical check up.
The Palace said the Queen was having a routine check up Photo: Getty Images
The Twitter mix up coincided with a regular BBC network "rehearsal" for the death of the monarch. A BBC spokesman said: "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."
Several of Ahmen's followers retweeted her post before she deleted it. She later clarified: "False alarm! have deleted previous tweets."
The reporter also said the original tweet was the result of "a silly prank" when her phone was left unattended at home.
The 89-year-old royal matriarch is in fact in remarkably good health for her age and was just photographed out horseback riding as usual. She also recently presided over the State Opening of Parliament, looking regal in the Imperial State Crown, which weighs a hefty 2.5lbs.