Would it be possible in this day and age to keep a huge news story private?

[homeownerwannabe]

Trying not to give a dramatic misleading title to this post and don't want to be disrespectful to the queen who I have a lot of respect for....

But...

There is rumours circulating that she has died and the news will be released on Monday. Now I'm thinking this is just conspiracy theories and there's been plenty of them about her before but would it be possible to keep something like this quiet? In a house with so many staff and the fact that there is procedures that are put in place right away (I know someone who used to cover the duty phone on rotation for when senior members of the royal family pass away) you'd think it would be leaked pretty quick?

Anyway, I think that when she is so frail that the inevitable is imminent that they'll go with something more formidable than back sprain in the run up.

I think she's quite poorly.

Of course she isn't dead!
Practically every media outlet in the country has a ferret in Buckingham Palace and we are not North Korea. Do people really think the Sun would keep quiet on a story like that?!

What would the point of that be? Why not just release it now? And if that was what they were doing, I think they'd at least say she'd been admitted to hospital, not just that she sprained her back. AFAIK, you can't die from that.

Yes I think it’s possible - but we’ll never really know if they’re successfully kept secret.
I doubt they’d do this with the queens death though, I mean what would there be to gain? It would just make them look weird not to do some kind of simple press release at least.

@supremelybaffled

Whenever I read anything remotely connected with any conspiracy theory my first question is why would they?

What would be the point? In this case, what logical and pressing reason would there be for postponing an announcement?

Totally agree with this.

My thought when reading the OP was "what would be to gain from keeping it secret for 24 hours?"

In fact it would make more sense to announce it on a Sunday (if it was true which I don't believe it is!) as much more of the nation are at home.

@ElftonWednesday

I think she's quite poorly.

I think she is as well. Because she was taken into hospital for "preliminary tests". That usually means they're trying to diagnose something surely?

Although she's 95. That's really very old!

If ever there was motivation not to kick the bucket, avoiding that clown announcing your passing would be it.

🤣🤣

I think they'd at least say she'd been admitted to hospital, not just that she sprained her back. AFAIK, you can't die from that

NHS helpline will be clogged with terrified people thinking they're on the out while they clutch their back.

The only way they'd delay it being announced would be if they couldn't get the news to Charles first (eg. If he was on a flight, they might wait until he'd been told and was on his way back to the UK), or if she died on election day, they might wait until the polling stations had closed to announce.

But yes, I can see it would be easy to keep it secret if she died at home. The only staff let in would be people very close to her, and would be trusted to shut doors until family could be told. If she died in a hospital that would be very different.

@SoupDragon

All this speculation is getting ridiculous! It's in incredibly poor taste too.

Quite.

Of course it's nonsense. What possible reason could there be to keep the Queen's passing a secret?

Plans for everything that would need to happen will have been meticulously honed for years.

Carrie would be seamlessly installed to the throne in a matter of days.

Poor queen, I hope when she does die she’ll go peacefully. It must be quite daunting knowing your death will be so public.

@Tanith

Of course she isn't dead! Practically every media outlet in the country has a ferret in Buckingham Palace and we are not North Korea. Do people really think the Sun would keep quiet on a story like that?!

They kept it quiet that she spent a night in hospital until she was back home.

I don’t think she’s dead, but clearly secrets can be kept.

I don't think that HMQ is dead. But yy it's possible to keep huge stories out of the media. There's always lots of behind-the-scenes negotiating about stories and any staff would be tied up in NDAs, etc.

@IHateCoronavirus

Poor queen, I hope when she does die she’ll go peacefully. It must be quite daunting knowing your death will be so public.

I think I’d have fun with it. Convince them to “accidentally” get the flag stuck at half mast and then just watch journalists flap around.

What would be the point in keeping it secret?
Charles would be king so why would he then allow this to be kept secret

To keep secrets like this would undermine the monarchy and that the last thing the king would want to do, it doesn't make sense

To be fair he probably died 1-2 weeks before the announced date. Otherwise its a huge coincidence he died just before social distancing covid rules were relaxed in time for his funeral ok this thread is descending into exceptionally poor taste now and maybe it needs to come down.

people are speculating about the deaths of actual human beings and turning them into entertainment fodder.

However public a figure someone is, they’re still a human being, with family who have been left bereaved by their passing or who will be when that happens.

I don’t imagine you’d like it if people started gossiping about the death of a family member and saying that you’d lied about when they’d died etc? Hideous.

So many conspiracy theories. She’s an old lady - they get bad backs and need to rest to recover. She is entitled to her privacy and doesn’t need every check up or hospital appointments being reported in the press.

They could easily keep it quiet.

Only her in her private quarters, with trusted ladies-in-waiting. I’m sure they would all have better grace than to leak it. The rest of the household staff wouldn’t even need to know.

Why are so many people so bored?

@SofiaMichelle

Of course it's nonsense. What possible reason could there be to keep the Queen's passing a secret?

Plans for everything that would need to happen will have been meticulously honed for years.

Carrie would be seamlessly installed to the throne in a matter of days.

Carrie? Do you think BoJo is going to make a bid for the throne

I shouldn't joke about that because he probably thinks he is entitled to it, he thinks he's entitled to everything else

No, I don't think they'll keep the news quiet for longer than necessary. They need to transfer the Head of State powers over to Charles immediately.

And yes, if you think the conspiracy theories are bad now, wait for the ones that have her skipping off into the sunset with Prince Philip and Elvis ...

@Evelyn52

Well I think theoretically it's perfectly possible but I just can't see why anyone would bother, what would be the point of delaying the news? What would a few days delay actually achieve, I mean she's 95, it's not like everyone would be thrown into shock and no plans made, it's all been in place for decades now.

To allow her family some time to grieve in private before having their every single movement followed by the press.

Oh this thread is horrible. She might be Queen but she's also peoples Mum, Gran, Great Gran and friend.

Doesn't matter that she's a huge public figure. How you you feel if someone was speculating about the death of your elderly relative?

Grim.