BBC causes Twitter scare about Queen Elizabeth

LONDON -- Buckingham Palace has taken the unusual step of confirming that Queen Elizabeth II went to a hospital for her annual medical checkup after social media comments touched off speculation on her health.

The palace said in a statement Wednesday that the 89-year-old monarch attended her annual medical checkup at King Edward VII Hospital in London, and left after the routine exam.

Speculation started after a tweet posted on a BBC journalist's account said the queen was being "treated" at the hospital.

The BBC later apologized, saying the mistake occurred during an exercise it described as a "technical rehearsal for an obituary."

The BBC said "the tweets were swiftly deleted and we apologize for any offense."

The tweet came from broadcast journalist Ahmen Khawaja, who quickly removed the message and posted a new one apologizing for the "false alarm," and suggesting someone else might have done it using her phone.

"Phone left unattended at home. Silly prank. Apologies for upsetting anyone," she said. She later deleted that tweet, too.