London: On Wednesday, BBC apologised to the Royal Family after a tweet was mistakenly sent by a journalist saying Queen Elizabeth II has died, in a rehearsal of coverage in case of a royal death.

The corporation has also started an internal investigation.

The first tweet was sent at about 9.30am from broadcast reporter Ahmen Khawaja's account that said: "BREAKING: Queen Elizabeth is being treated at King Edward 7th Hospital in London. Statement due shortly."

He further added: "Queen Elizabeth (sic) has died," as per a screen shot circulated by British media.

Ahmen Khawaja instantly issued an apology for the "false alarm" and also scrapped the messages, saying: "Phone left unattended at home. Silly prank, Apologies for upsetting anyone!"

BBC said in a statement "During a technical rehearsal for an obituary, tweets were mistakenly sent from the account of a BBC journalist saying that a member of the royal family had been taken ill. The tweets were swiftly deleted and we apologise for any offence".

Coincidentally, in the morning hours of Wednesday, the queen was in King Edward VII hospital for her annual check-up.

According to a Guardian newspaper report, the rehearsal was confirmed by Jonathan Munro, head of BBC Newsgathering in an email sent to staff.