UK The Telegraph reports the death of Prince Philip

[Second Summer]

This came up on Google News just now, but the link is 404 page not found.

Apparently, The Telegraph has an article prepared for prince Philip's death as they expect him to die any time now.

 

[Andy_T]

Yes, I have seen that on my Apple News feed as well, but when I try to open it, it says "illegal link".

Is he seriously ill?
Or are they just trying to be prepared for what may happen in the next few months/years...

 

[Amy SF]

It's SOP for news organizations to have obituaries and death notices prepared for public figures so they'll have something ready when the death happens. That's why, if they don't have something ready, you'll see a brief obit right away, or the next day for print news, with the disclaimer that a full obituary will run the following day.

With Prince Philip, especially, he's 96 years old, so it doesn't matter if he's ill or not, he could just as easily pass from old age. The presence of that item in the Google News feed is likely a mistake.

Either that, or he really could be dying of something.

 

[Moll Flanders]

It's his last day of service today. I'm not sure what happened with The Telegraph.

Prince Philip ends seven decades of service with final solo engagement | UK news | The Guardian

 

[Mischief]

It's SOP for news organizations to have obituaries and death notices prepared for public figures so they'll have something ready when the death happens. That's why, if they don't have something ready, you'll see a brief obit right away, or the next day for print news, with the disclaimer that a full obituary will run the following day.

With Prince Philip, especially, he's 96 years old, so it doesn't matter if he's ill or not, he could just as easily pass from old age. The presence of that item in the Google News feed is likely a mistake.

Either that, or he really could be dying of something.

Yup.

With Prince Philip (and the Queen), I would be surprised if they didn't have a fully fleshed out obit ready to go for the last few decades.

 

[Mischief]

Oh, and the "aged XX" in the headline is a dead giveaway (pun intended) that this is a stock obit, being held for the inevitable death.

 

[Pirate]

Every time he's admitted to hospital for an 'infection' or 'routine surgery' I say HMMMMMMM. I think something more is going on!

Apparently newspapers hold obituaries for everyone though

 

[Jamie in Chile]

Perhaps the news of his retirement caused someone to decide to update the obituary, and related to that, this was somehow caused.

 

[Jamie in Chile]

Or perhaps given his history of embarrassing careless gaffes it is an attempt at irony. In a way, it's bizarrely appropriate.

 

[Andy_T]

My guess is they wanted to put out the article about his retirement and somebody released the wrong one....