Britain woke up Thursday morning in the midst of feverish speculation over the health of Prince Philip.
Overnight, the hashtag #BuckinghamPalace and the topics "The Queen," "Prince Philip" and "Royal Family" were on top of UK's Twitter trends, with tens of thousands of people riffing on rumours that the husband of Queen Elizabeth II had died.
But how did the rumour start?
At 1 a.m. Thursday, the MailOnline published the online version of an article that appears on the print edition of the Daily Mail about an emergency meeting called by the Lord Chamberlain, the Queen's most senior officer of the Royal Household.
Sources at Buckingham Palace told the Mail the meeting was "highly unusual" and sparked "fevered talk about an imminent announcement concerning the monarch or her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh."
The story was immediately picked up by fringe media in the U.S., France and Canada.
Shortly after that, the UK's Royal Central published an article citing unnamed "French media" that reported the death of Prince Philip:
That triggered frenzied speculation on Twitter:
@BookishBren I just read a tweet saying some French media said Prince Philip has died, but no confirmation.
— Chadwick (@ohchadwick) May 4, 2017
? Emergency meeting at Buckingham Palace. The French media is reporting that Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, 95 has passed away. http://pic.twitter.com/GB0QbLg078
— The Ark ??★★★★ (@TheArk2017) May 4, 2017
However, no French media appeared to be doing so.
lots of talk about "French media" reporting specifics re: the Buckingham Palace announcement, but nobody seems able to *find* those reports
— Josh Butler (@JoshButler) May 4, 2017
Rare, an American news site, also published a "Prince Philip is dead" rumour:
And The Sun briefly published on its website and then removed an article about the Duke of Edinburgh's death titled: “Prince Philip dead at 95, how did the Duke of Edinburgh die, etc etc”.
In the morning, Buckingham Palace put all the rumours to rest saying:
"You could safely assume the Queen and Prince Philip are not dead."
Another later added that there was ‘no cause for alarm’ about the meeting, which is due to take place at 10 a.m.
My understanding re so called Buckingham Palace "emergency meeting" is there is no cause for alarm.
— Robert Jobson (@theroyaleditor) May 4, 2017
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