The passing of Queen Elizabeth II on September 8, 2022, sparked an avalanche of well wishes and remembrance for the long-reigning monarch. However, on Twitter, a photo of an ordering kiosk showing an image of the queen and a text saying "Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 1926-2022" under the McDonald's logo had many questioning the tweet's legitimacy.

Fact-checkers at Reuters soon found that the image had been altered — the original photo of the digital kiosk, which actually shows a green ordering home screen, first appeared in an article for a food and travel blog known as The Rare Welsh Bit in 2017. They also spoke with a McDonald's U.K. spokesperson who denied the photo's authenticity.

That said, McDonald's U.K. did write a tweet in homage to the late queen, and surprisingly, the connection between the golden arches and Queen Elizabeth II goes way back. Queen Elizabeth, whose favorite foods were classically British, occasionally enjoyed a good burger and fries and even owned her own McDonald's in Oxfordshire.