French radio station RFI radio has issued a sheepish apology after posting an obituary for a very-much-alive Queen Elizabeth.
The radio station posted the obituary to their website stating the Queen had died aged 94, distressing Her Majesty’s French fans.
The bungle occurred after the obituary had been prepared as a draft in the event of the Queen’s death, which is a common media practice.
It wasn’t just the Queen who received an early obituary, with actors Clint Eastwood, Sophia Loren, and Brigitte Bardot mistakenly pronounced dead.
The obituaries were quickly pulled down once the mistake was realised, and the radio station issued an apology on Twitter before pulling it down.
The apology read: “A technical problem has resulted in the publication of numerous obituaries on our French site.
“We are working to rectify this serious bug, and we apologise to all concerned as well as those who follow us and put their trust in us.”
According to a Tweet from Italian journalist Jessica Phelan, some of the obituaries speculated the cause of death to be COVID-19.
She tweeted: “Solidarity with former colleagues @RFI, which just accidentally published stacks of draft obits for people who are very much not dead—inc Queen Elizabeth, Raul Castro, Brigitte Bardot & more—complete with dates they were last updated & alternative leads if they die of Covid-19.”
Solidarity with former colleagues @RFI, which just accidentally published stacks of draft obits for people who are very much not dead—inc Queen Elizabeth, Raul Castro, Brigitte Bardot & more—complete with dates they were last updated & alternative leads if they die of Covid-19 😬 pic.twitter.com/zUSqVU0X4Q
— Jessica Phelan (@JessicaLPhelan) November 16, 2020
In good news, however, the Queen is alive and well.
