The BBC issued an apology after it mistakenly announced on Twitter the death of Queen Elizabeth II.
On Wednesday, May 3, Ahmen Khawaja, a broadcast journalist working for the BBC's Urdu-language service, posted on Twitter that the 89-year old royal had been taken to hospital.
The first of the series of inaccurate tweets said: "BREAKING: Queen Elizabeth is being treated at King Edward 7th Hospital in London. Statement due shortly: @BBC World".
That was followed by another tweet reading, "Queen Elizabrth [sic] has died."
The tweets sparked a storm on social networks, and rumors about the Queen's health were picked up by numerous international media outlets.
According to NBC News, the tweets were brought to the attention of Buckingham Palace, which shot down the rumors. The palace did confirm that the Queen saw a doctor this week, but only for a routine check-up.
It said in a statement, "This was a routine pre-scheduled appointment. The queen has now left hospital and carries on with her engagements."
She was due to host a reception for new and retired Lord Lieutenants — her personal representatives in each county — at the palace on Wednesday evening.
It remains unclear how the death hoax tweet occurred. Although her tweets have since been deleted, Khawaja offered multiple explanations for the false alarm, according to NBC News. She allegedly first blamed someone who had used her phone when she left the device at home unattended.
"Silly prank, Apologies for upsetting anyone!" Khawaja tweeted. Later she added, "False alarm: Have deleted previous tweets!"
However, BBC's press office contradicted Khawaja's explanation of the prank, citing a news exercise that was testing the staff's readiness in the event of a royal death.
BBC gave its own statement to NBC, which read, "During a technical rehearsal for an obituary, tweets were mistakenly sent from the account of a BBC journalist. The tweets were swiftly deleted and we apologize for any offense."
Khawaja is now facing disciplinary action over the gaffe.
The head of BBC newsgathering, Jonathan Munro, confirmed the rehearsal in an email to staff on Wednesday, according to the Guardian newspaper. In his statement to the newspaper, Munro said that the exercise is a "low-key rehearsal for the way in which television might cover a category one obituary" and that it is essential that they can rehearse these sensitive scenarios privately.
BBC's "category one" is reserved for four members of the royal family: the Queen; her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh; heir to the throne Prince Charles; and his son Prince William.
