Buckingham Palace says Queen and Duke recovering from heavy colds as conspiracy theories swirl

THE Royal family has batted down conspiracy theories about the health of the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh after a fake news report.

Buckingham Palace has confirmed the Queen is recovering from a cold. Picture: Justin TALLIS

THE Royal family has reassured people the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh are alive after conspiracy theories began to trend online, sparked by a fake news report.

A Buckingham Palace spokesman said both the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh were recuperating from a bout of illness.

“The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh continue to recover from their heavy colds,” he told The Sun.

It comes after the couple opted to fly to Sandringham for Christmas rather than take the train and the Queen did not appear at a family church service on Christmas Day due to illness.

Despite the relatively minor afflictions, the so-called “curse of 2016” led many Brits to jump to conclusions online after a string of deaths including George Michael, Carrie Fisher and her mother Debbie Reynolds.

Rest assured people, the Queen is not going anywhere. AFP PHOTO / Justin TALLIS

Earlier a fake BBC news account tweeted that Buckingham Palace announced the Queen had passed away under unknown circumstances.

That led to the hashtag #mediablackout with tongue-in-cheek claims there was a cover up at play.

So, the whole #mediablackout thing all started with this... pic.twitter.com/ILuz029xcb

— Fin Early (@FinEarly) December 29, 2016

Looks like a fake BBC account reporting that the queen is dead pic.twitter.com/kVKYucUv88

— Anthony Cheung (@AWMCheung) December 29, 2016

It is so 2016 that we all immediately believed that The Queen was dead because IT'S 2016.

— kat calvin (@KatCalvinLA) December 29, 2016

is BBC news the best channel to find out the true answer to #mediablackout ? If the queen died it'd be on there first surely🤔

— Connie (@C_nnie_) December 30, 2016

Twitter appears to have gone bonkers overnight over a supposed media blackout - folks will be so disappointed come 8 a.m.

— Rory Cellan-Jones (@ruskin147) December 30, 2016

It's 2016 so everyone thinks the Queen is dead and a #MediaBlackout is covering it up https://t.co/tk2g2bSRQR pic.twitter.com/mxqZxKMjWI

— Huffington Post UK (@HuffPostUK) December 30, 2016

The real culprit behind the #mediablackout hashtag pic.twitter.com/ip2IzS1wD3

— Bryan Johnson (@Bryj74) December 30, 2016

"What the hells going on out here..?" #mediablackout pic.twitter.com/v2gPlsWoXJ

— James Beckley (@mrjimbecks) December 30, 2016

Just did a jet lagged jog to the palace. It's totally quiet, nothing is going on. Silly twitter. #LongLiveTheQueen! #mediablackout pic.twitter.com/L1uqGvwO9X

— Charlie Archer (@1CharlieArcher) December 30, 2016

The Queen turned 90 in 2016 and the Duke of Edinburgh turned 95.

Originally published as Buckingham Palace says Queen and Duke recovering from heavy colds as conspiracy theories swirl