How do you use December 2019 Queen Elizabeth II Twitter Death Rumour?

People made reaction edits picturing the Queen herself opening Twitter to read that she was dead, or relief clips like @Razaool's Big Shaq post once the all-clear went out.

Is December 2019 Queen Elizabeth II Twitter Death Rumour still popular?

No. The hoax was a one-afternoon event with coverage from The Tab and The Sun the next day, and the actual death of the Queen in September 2022 overtook it as reference material.

December 2019 Queen Elizabeth II Twitter Death Rumour

Q: What is December 2019 Queen Elizabeth II Twitter Death Rumour?

A one-day Twitter hoax on December 1st, 2019 that falsely claimed Queen Elizabeth II had died of a heart attack, triggered by a leaked WhatsApp screenshot from a user named Gibbo.

Q: Where did December 2019 Queen Elizabeth II Twitter Death Rumour come from?

It started as a WhatsApp group chat screenshot that was reposted to Twitter, where "The Queen" trended with roughly 135,000 tweets in an hour.

Q: What does December 2019 Queen Elizabeth II Twitter Death Rumour mean?

The name points to an unfounded death rumour that briefly took over UK Twitter before royal reporter @MonarchyUK confirmed the Queen was alive and about to meet Donald Trump at the NATO summit.

2019eventdead

Published November 12, 2026

On December 1st, 2019, a screenshotted WhatsApp message from a user named Gibbo claiming Queen Elizabeth II died of a heart attack hit Twitter and triggered roughly 135,000 tweets within an hour1. Royal reporter Chris Proctor at @MonarchyUK confirmed hours later that she was alive and preparing to meet Donald Trump at that week's NATO summit in London2. Mock-shock reaction GIFs of the Queen seeing her own death trend stayed the main artifact of the afternoon.

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Overview

Posts around the rumour mostly split into two joke shapes. In the first, Twitter users imagined Queen Elizabeth II herself opening the app and reading that she was dead, captioning old clips of startled celebrities or horror-movie double-takes to stand in for her reaction3. In the second, after word got out that she was fine, people celebrated with relief videos, including @Razaool's Big Shaq edit that greeted the all-clear4.

Both genres leaned on the fact that "The Queen", "Queen Death" and "Queen Elizabeth II" were trending at the same time in the UK, so any post framed as the monarch's own doomscroll instantly landed1. Longer joke tweets paired reaction GIFs with fake quotes, such as the Queen telling the grim reaper she wanted to make it to her 94th birthday2. The tone was affectionate rather than mournful; most posters treated the hoax as an unexpected afternoon of free material.

Gallery

Origin & Background

Platform

WhatsApp (source) / Twitter (viral spread)

Date

2019

Catalyst: on December 1st, 2019, a screenshot of a WhatsApp group chat leaked onto Twitter in which a user named Gibbo told the group that Queen Elizabeth II had died of a heart attack3. The message was unsourced, but the screenshot format gave it enough plausibility to spread quickly.

Earliest known meme reactions: within the same afternoon, UK Twitter began captioning reaction videos as the Queen opening Twitter and seeing her own death5, while others posted relief edits once the story started to crack4. Royal reporter Chris Proctor of @MonarchyUK then said a source close to the family confirmed she was alive and looking forward to meeting US President Donald Trump at the NATO summit in London that week2.

How It Spread

In the hour after the screenshot was posted, around 135,000 tweets mentioned the Queen, and search terms including "The Queen", "Queen Death" and "Queen Elizabeth II" trended across the UK1. Most of the volume came from reaction posts rather than news, with GIFs and short clips doing the heavy work of the joke.

Two posts anchored the day. User @EscPim shared a video meant to depict the Queen hearing of her own death, which picked up roughly 17,000 retweets and 98,000 likes5. User @Razaool answered with a Big Shaq clip once the denial landed, which took in around 3,300 retweets and 13,000 likes4. @MonarchyUK's clarification that she was fine and preparing for the NATO summit closed the loop a few hours after the first screenshot2.

The Tab wrote the hoax up the next morning with a roundup of the best joke posts1, and The Sun followed with a straight news story headlined around the "sick WhatsApp hoax"2. Queen Elizabeth II actually died on September 8th, 2022, nearly three years later, which retroactively turned the 2019 afternoon into a false-alarm footnote rather than an ongoing format.

Timeline

2019-12-01

Screenshot of a WhatsApp message from a user named Gibbo claiming the Queen died of a heart attack is posted to Twitter[3].

2019-12-01

"The Queen" and related terms trend in the UK with roughly 135,000 tweets in an hour; @EscPim and @Razaool post reaction videos that go viral[5][4].

2019-12-01

Royal reporter Chris Proctor (@MonarchyUK) says a source close to the family confirmed she was alive and preparing for the NATO summit with Donald Trump[2].

2019-12-02

The Tab publishes a roundup of the best joke posts from the hoax[1].

2019-12-02

The Sun covers the hoax as a news story, calling it a "sick WhatsApp hoax"[2].