Douglas Henshall sparked waves of criticism with his claim about the Queen’s coffin
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A star of the BBC is facing a huge backlash online after advancing a popular conspiracy theory that the Queen's coffin is empty.
Despite going on public display in a process known as lying-in-state which dates back to the turn of the 20th century and has taken place for several monarchs, BBC star Douglas Henshall isn't convinced.
The claim lines up with others on social media who don't seem to believe that Her Majesty's body is really in the coffin due to possible security risks.
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In a post that sparked waves of anger he said: "Do you think the queue would be so long if people knew that the Queen isn’t in that coffin? Or do they know and it’s just symbolic?"
The Scot has appeared in several major TV dramas over the course of his career as an actor including Shetland. He added that it was a "genuine question" and that he was concerned about the security risk involved.
It comes after a man was arrested for trying to grab the Queen's coffin.
The comment, still live on his Twitter has attracted more than 2,000 comments with many calling his tweet 'insensitive' and 'nasty'.
@Frise_Sally said: "What a horrible comment. People come to give their respects. Time to be quiet"
@Bestmum42 said: "Do you think you could just wind your neck in for a while and respect people’s grief and the grief of a family and acknowledge that no one is queuing to see a body or a coffin. Honestly such a brilliant actor and yet completely devoid of basic respect."
Malcolm Hill said: "What a nasty tweet. Why do people like you decide to tweet vile remarks particularly at a time when thousands of people are queuing for hours to pay their respect to the Queen? Why undermine what they are doing?"
Defending himself, the actor said: "It’s not nasty or vile, and I’m not undermining anyone. I simply asked a question. Jesus.
"I’ve been very respectful. I haven’t tweeted anything about the Queen, and nor did I say anything about her husband when he died. All I’ve done is ask a valid question on the nature of collective grief."
Some followers agreed with his theory, which has also been put forward by others on social networks like Reddit..
Stephen O'Donnell said: "Security? Her coffin is surrounded by guards at all times."
Chris Buyers added: "Another shocking tweet – you are having a nightmare recently."
The actor admitted he didn't know whether the body was there or not. He said: "I don’t know obviously, but I can’t imagine she would be purely on the grounds of security if nothing else."
@jruddy99 said: "Douglas, please stopping spreading lies and conspiracy theories like this. You're better than this."
@tractorgirly said: "Dougie if your going to tweet stuff like this at least provide something to back it up. Without actually providing links to your claim it’s just you sounding off."
The funeral takes place on Monday at 11am and will be broadcast live on BBC1, BBC2 and all ITV channels simultaneously.
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