Shetland star Douglas Henshall has sparked a fierce backlash after apparently questioning whether the Queen is actually lying in state in her coffin.
The monarch died just over a week ago at Balmoral with her body now lying in state at Westminster Hall.
Hundreds of thousands of Brits have queued for up to 24 hours to view the coffin and pay their respects to our longest-serving monarch.
Douglas risked public ire by tweeting: “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?”
Douglas Henshall suggests Queen isn’t in her coffin
And he faced a swift backlash from fans on Twitter.
One said: “As someone who clearly has no respect for the monarchy, why are you even bothering to tweet your bile?”
A second said: “Douglas do you know something that no one else knows because no one is saying it not one anti monarchy news channel or paper are reporting this.
“Come on you’ve just made it up for attention haven’t you admit it.”
A third said: “Dougie if you’re 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.”
Another furious fan replied: “Blocked – this is an unseemly and untrue suggestion. What a disgrace. I dare him to stand in public and imply that this is a staged event just for show.”
A fifth said: “Douglas, please stopping spreading lies and conspiracy theories like this. You’re better than this.”
“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,” another said.
“Honestly such a brilliant actor and yet completely devoid of basic respect.”
A further fan said: “Are you trying to destroy your popularity completely? I’ve always liked your work but with tweets like that I’m not sure I could stomach it. Oh dear, I feel so sorry for you!”
Another added: “Shocked by your suggestion. You’re better than that Douglas.”
Douglas responded to some of the criticism, explaining: “I don’t know obviously, but I can’t imagine she would be purely on the grounds of security if nothing else.
He later responded to someone who wrote ‘if it brings comfort then so be it’ with: “I agree. I’m just wondering about the psychology of all of this.”
When someone accused him of being unkind by making the suggestion, he said: “I’m not being unkind.”
The queue to pay respects to the Queen has reached five miles at its peak.
Read more: Queen lying-in-state live coverage cut following disturbance by Her Majesty’s coffin
Organisers have set a new starting point at Southwark Park – closing it once the queue has filled the vast green space.
Brits faces waiting for 24 hours to reach Westminster Hall for a few seconds to bow or pray.
The Queen’s funeral will take place on Monday morning.
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