Social media can be a force for good. It can be a force for bad. It can also be a force unwarranted (though in hindsight, quite funny) panic.
That's what happened last night when the hashtag #KingCharlesIII started trending. As anyone who was watching BBC Two last night will know, King Charles III was a feature-length drama adapted from the Tony-nominated stage play of the same name.
The story imagines the reign of the now Prince Charles (who would obviously become King Charles III) who, through a moment of doubt in signing a bill into law, starts a constitutional crisis which engulfs the Royal Family and threatens the future of the monarchy.
By most accounts, it was pretty damn good, with heaps of praise for the late Tim Pigott-Smith, who sadly passed away last month, in the role of Charles.
https://twitter.com/EileenAllen55/status/862400238971179009
https://twitter.com/JasonManford/status/862433474711519232
https://twitter.com/JAVH60/status/862425301711769603
https://twitter.com/lauramcbride/status/862425255519956996
https://twitter.com/Illuminations/status/862424001271955456
The show was so popular that it didn't take long for the hashtag #KingCharlesIII to trend on Twitter, but some people who weren't watching jumped to a different confusion: that The Queen had died and Charles had ascended to the throne for real.
So if it's not already clear: The Queen is not dead. She might be a lizard operating a human skin puppet, we don't know, but she's still alive.
Lizard or not, people were understandably freaking out at the idea that The Queen had died.
https://twitter.com/mustaphali6/status/862544395966582784
https://twitter.com/ImogenWalker8/status/862549168325361664
https://twitter.com/gemmaisshort/status/862536149830688769
https://twitter.com/missmillyyy/status/862432919108931584
https://twitter.com/stephhartley4/status/862406267784003591
Again, just to be clear, Liz the Lizard is alive and licking, no need to panic. And if you want to see what the fuss is all about, head to BBC iPlayer to catch King Charles III. But remember: The Queen is not dead. Lizard, maybe. Dead, not.
