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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Kurt Robson & Sam Ormiston

Horror moment BBC journalist mistakenly announced Queen had died in 'false alarm'

The BBC was forced to apologise after causing a storm online after a journalist claimed the Queen had died - seven years before her passing.

The rogue Tweets were sent out during a 'dress rehearsal', when journalists were practicing how they would report the death of the Monarch back in 2015.

Buckingham Palace was even forced to issue a statement to reassure the public that the Queen, who died on Thursday evening (September 8), was alive and in good health at the time.

She had in fact been at a routine doctor's appointment, but there were no major concerns over her health.

The shocking incident occurred during a dress rehearsal for broadcasting the Queen's obituary which BBC bosses had allegedly asked staff to keep off social media.

BBC reporter Ahmen Khawaja caused a Twitter frenzy after the blunder (Daily Record)

Ahmen Khawaja, a BBC broadcast journalist, posted a tweet that read: "BREAKING: Queen Elizabeth is being treated at King Edward 7th Hospital in London. Statement due shortly: @BBCWorld."

It was then followed by the tweet wrongly stating that Her Majesty was dead.

Just minutes later, she tweeted: "False alarm to Queen’s death! She is being treated at King Edward 7th Hospital."

In an unfortunate coincidence, the Queen did actually attend a routine annual appointment at the hospital that morning.

A Palace spokesman said: "I can confirm that the Queen this morning attended her annual medical check-up at the King Edward VII’s Hospital in London.

"This was a routine, pre-scheduled appointment, the Queen has now left hospital."

The 'dress rehearsal' ended in disaster while the BBC apologised (Daily Record)

Ms Khawaja then tried to cover her mistake by suggesting that her phone had been hacked.

The tweet read: "Phone left unattended at home. Silly prank, Apologies for upsetting anyone!"

The BBC then seemed to contradict her explanations and strongly denied the fact that any tweets had been sent saying the Queen had died.

In a statement a spokesperson 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."

A spokeswoman insisted that there was no evidence to suggest that a tweet had been sent which said the Queen had died.

Her Majesty The Queen died aged 96 at Balmoral on September 8 (Getty Images)

"I do not think any tweet was sent from this account that said the Queen had died," she said.

However a screen grab that showed the tweet was published on the NBC News website.

The BBC continued to refuse to give any details of how the error came to be or whether Ms Khawaja was in the same building as the corporation's routine dress rehearsal.

Some BBC staff reportedly speculated that Ms Khawaja may have overheard part of the rehearsal and quickly jumped to the conclusion that it was a real report and tweeted it out.

Unsurprisingly, the mistake led countless people to believe the Queen really had died.

This weekend, the Daily Mirror and Sunday Mirror celebrate the life of Her Majesty the Queen with a commemorative special filled with all the key moments from Britain’s longest reigning monarch. Be sure to pick up your copy of the Daily Mirror and Sunday Mirror to get both pullouts.

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