In its March 25, 2019 issue, the National Enquirer claimed that Buckingham Palace had been “thrown in chaos by a secret cancer diagnosis for Queen Elizabeth!” The evidence the tabloid cited was embarrassing.
A photo of the queen used in the piece revealed a bruise on her left hand, and apparently, this was enough for the unreliable paper to make its wild accusation.
The untruthful outlet did quote what it claimed was a “palace source” as saying, “The leukemia diagnosis was immediately hushed up, and the severity of her condition is not known. But given her age, no one believes there is much time left for her!”
The tabloid then cited a doctor, who had not treated the queen, as saying “In an elderly woman like her, bruising that is not the result of trauma points to the loss of clotting component and indicates a blood cancer, like leukemia or lymphoma.”
While it’s true that there did appear to be a bruise on the monarch’s hand, there’s absolutely no indication of how the bruise occurred. Furthermore, anyone speculating on the queen’s health based on one photo is problematic at best. Still, the tabloid asserted that Queen Elizabeth’s staff feared “that she may not make through the year!” All based on one photograph.
From there, the tabloid fell back on one of its most common tropes — that the queen was going to name Prince William the king instead of the rightful heir and her son, Prince Charles. This is a premise that Gossip Cop has debunked so many times, it’s astounding.
This particular tabloid publishes some variation of this story almost monthly, and every single time, it’s false. As we have explained each time, Queen Elizabeth doesn’t have the power to name a successor. The line of succession is a matter of parliamentary law, not the whims of a sovereign with no political power.
The Enquirer has a dismal track record when “reporting” on Queen Elizabeth’s health as well. In February of last year, the tabloid alleged that she had dementia and, you guessed it, was appointing Prince William and Kate Middleton king and queen. It seems the paper never gets tired of running this same stale premise.
The very same publication ran another story in May 2019, not two months after the cancer story, claiming that the queen was dying and pushing Prince William to “snatch” the throne from his father, setting up a royal drama more fitting of fantasy television shows than real life.
According to the untruthful article, not only was she setting up Prince William to be king, but royal banishments of Prince Charles, Prince Harry, and Meghan Markle were sure to follow. Maybe the Enquirer’s writers should have used their fiction-writing skills to help out on the conclusion of Game of Thrones instead of writing this nonsense.