Updated April 9, 2021: While Bing incorrectly stated that Prince Phillip died last month, he has since died. The Royal Family confirmed his death on April 9, 2021. The original story follows.
What you need to know
- Microsoft's Bing accidentally stated that Prince Philip died.
- The information box for Prince Philip has been removed from Bing search results.
- Prince Philip recently underwent a procedure for a heart condition but is in recovery.
Microsoft's Bing accidentally stated that Prince Philip was dead. The search engine showed an information box for queries of "Prince Philip" or "Duke of Edinburgh" that stated that Prince Philip died at King Edward VII's Hospital. Prince Philip is, however, alive and in recovery at King Edward VII Hospital following a procedure for a heart condition.
The royal family are in the headlines for several reasons at the moment. Prince Philip, the husband of Queen Elizabeth II and Duke of Edinburgh, recently underwent a procedure for a heart condition and is in recovery at King Edward VII's hospital. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle also made headlines with an interview with Oprah last night. With the royals topping the headlines, it's a poor time for Microsoft's search engine to show incorrect information.
While we have not seen the information box for ourselves, it was reported on by Metro, a UK news outlet. Searching for Prince Philip on Bing doesn't show an information box anymore, so it appears that Bing has taken it down, presumably to fix the error.
Here are the current results pages for Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip for comparison.
Following Prince Philip's recent procedure, the Palace issued a statement:
Following the Duke of Edinburgh's successful procedure at St Bartholomew's Hospital on Wednesday, His Royal Highness has been transferred to King Edward VII's Hospital this morning. The Duke is expected to remain in hospital for continuing treatment for a number of days.
There's a good chance that the incorrect information appeared when someone wrongly edited a page that Bing scrubbed for information. Data in Bing's information boxes comes from various sources, including Wikipedia, which can be easily edited.
While the error might come from someone's incorrect edit of source information, it comes with poor timing considering Prince Philip's health. It appears that the Bing team reacted quickly to take the information box down to fix the issue.
