Council apologises to royals for wrongly announcing Prince Philip's death

AN apology was issued to the royal family by Hampshire County Council after it mistakenly announced the death of Prince Philip.

The authority erroneously declared the Duke of Edinburgh's passing on its website – which it said was only there for a few minutes and blamed on an “internal technical error”.

An HCC spokesperson said: “A webpage was temporarily displayed in error, for a few minutes yesterday afternoon. We are currently investigating this highly unusual and regrettable occurrence.

“In order to be able to respond quickly to events, the county council has procedures in place to ensure it is well-prepared for all eventualities. These measures include draft webpages for significant events.

“Unfortunately, as a result of an internal technical error, one of these pages was inadvertently published.

“We apologise sincerely for this having occurred and we are apologising directly to the Lord Lieutenant and Buckingham Palace.”

The gaffe was seized upon by Liberal Democrat Cllr David Harrison who said there were “a few red faces” at Conservative-controlled HCC for reporting the death Prince Philip “whilst he is still very much alive”.

Before disappearing, the message had said: "On behalf of our residents, the Lord Lieutenant of Hampshire and Hampshire County Council offer deepest sympathies to the royal family on the passing of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.

“At Hampshire County Council's headquarters buildings in Winchester, flags have been lowered to half-mast.”