Tracy Grimshaw made a hugely awkward mistake about the royals on live TV.

When word got out that The Queen had summoned all of her royal staff to Buckingham Palace for an ’emergency meeting’, the world panicked.

Despite palace sources claiming there was “no cause for alarm” about the meeting, royal fans began to ask questions about Her Royal Highness’ health.

Was she okay? Was Prince Philip okay? Were the corgis okay?

Hours later, it was confirmed that Prince Philip had decided to step down from public life, and would no longer appear at public engagements from August onwards.

Unfortunately for some, the announcement came in such a hurry that things got..err...a little confused.

And even veteran Australian journalist Tracy Grimshaw was not immune: during a live cross to a Buckingham Palace correspondent, Tracy announced she had confirmation the Queen was stepping down from public life.

"I am hearing that there is a royal announcement...there has been an announcement that the Queen is stepping down from public life...and that is very significant," Tracy said.

"Sorry, someone is in my ear...have we got confirmation of that or is that just speculation?

"We have confirmation...we have confirmation from a statement from the palace."

That's when UK correspondent Michael Best interrupted with the awkward news that it was actually the Queen's husband who was stepping down.

"Ah...I think it's Prince Philip..." he said.

Cue Tracy's face looking a little like this:

Luckily for the Australian journalist, some outlets made mistakes in reporting the news that were much, much worse.

Like one major UK news site, who prematurely reported that Prince Philip had actually died.

Prince Philip dead at 95, how did the Duke of Edinburgh die, etc etc the published headline read on The Sun.

Yeah. Awkward.

Happily, Prince Philip is alive and well, and despite the news he's backing down from public appearances, he's still maintaining his trademark (and sometimes controversial) sense of humour.

When mathematician Sir Michael Atiyah told The Duke of Edinburgh he was "sorry to hear you're standing down", the 95-year-old replied, "Well, I can't stand up much longer."