Buckingham Palace forced to confirm the Queen is not dead after Twitter hoax

Buckingham Palace has come out saying that Queen Elizabeth II is still alive and recovering from a cold. Photo / AP

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.

Want to see more of our highlights from 2016?

Watch our full roundup film 📷 https://t.co/aTyqEi11oA

— The Royal Family (@RoyalFamily) December 30, 2016

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.

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

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

— Anthony Cheung (@AWMCheung) December 29, 2016

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

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

— HuffPost 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

— ‘Senior Listener’ 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.