Quen Elizabeth II is not dead - December 2016
Quen Elizabeth II smiling. Image: Vanity fair.

On December 29, two BBC Twitter accounts broke the Internet announcing the Queen Elizabeth II of England had died at the age of 90. However, the social media accounts turned out to be fake, and the announcement was just a hoax.

According to the initial tweets, the Buckingham Palace had announced the monarch had died from unknown causes. In 2016, particularly in December, many celebrities have died, so the rumor went viral almost immediately

The hoax was so effective that even Gérard Araud, the current French ambassador in the US, fell for it and retweeted before learning it was a lie.

2016 was a year plagued by tragedy as many famous people died including Carrie Fisher (09/21/56 – 12/27/16). A day later, people learned Debbie Reynolds passed away a day after the death of her daughter, so the public is sensitive toward this kind of news.

The Ambassador later tweeted that this was the first time he was a victim of fake news and that he would be much more careful from now on. He also expressed his relief on the fact that the news was nothing but a tasteless joke.

Gérard Araud-quen-elizsabeth-II-hoax
Gérard Araud, current French Ambassador in the US. Image: YouTube.

The Quen Elizabeth II is recovering from a “terrible cold”

The fake news about Queen Elizabeth II was posted intelligently less than a week after Buckingham Palace announced the decision of the Queen not to attend the traditional Christmas morning service.

The latter is an event that has taken place for many years at the church of Sandringham Estate, one the Queen has attended for at least 30 consecutive years.

Elizabeth II, who is currently 90 years old,  made the decision of staying home due to a “heavy cold” she was suffering at the moment. However, she participated in the Royal Family Christmas Celebration during the day.

The Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, also postponed their annual holiday break to Norfolk as they usually do during the Holiday. They explained they both had a terrible cold and took a flight back home instead of taking the train as they usually do.

So far, after the two fake BBC Twitter accounts were deactivated, Buckingham Palace has not made any official comments on the matter.

Source: Townhall