This Morning accidentally announces Sheridan Smith is playing Kate Middleton after falling for fake tweet

This Morning have had a nightmare in today's instalment of the show after falling for one of the oldest tricks in the (online) book.

The show accidentally announced live on air that there was to be a new ITV series about Kate Middleton - but this wasn't the case at all.

It's happened to the best of us - sometimes it may be seeing a death hoax online, or a fake account that looks real announcing something huge - but this time it was a real blunder.

And today's episode of the morning TV show featured former Conservative MP Gyles Bandreth, who was the undisputed victim of this online joke.

The hosts were talking about The Princess of Wales, who is a hot topic at the moment after her family photo posted on Mother's Day was removed by multiple agencies due to allegations that it had been 'manipulated'.

Middleton has since come out and apologised, admitting that she had edited the photo.

During the discussion, Bandreth announced on the air: "ITV is doing the series now, Sheridan Smith, called 'The Lost Princess', coming later in the year," when speaking about Kate Middleton.

The original fake post on X (formerly Twitter) read: "BREAKING ITV has announced that Sheridan Smith has been cast as Kate Middleton in an upcoming 6-part drama, 'The Lost Princess,' to air this Autumn"

Smith is best known for her TV roles in Benidorm and Gavin & Stacey as well as in movies such as Tower Block and Quartet.

However, the 'announcement' was not posted from an official social media account - so it may be a matter of age and inexperience for poor Bandreth.

But people online found it hilarious, reacting to the video on social media by sharing their opinions in the comments.

The original user of the first tweet simply said: "F**K OFF AHAHAHAHAHA," upon finding out that his message had been actually featured on the show.

Another user commented: "THE CRUEL BRANDRETH HAS FALLEN FOR A STUPID SHERIDAN SMITH TWEET I AM CRYING"

A third posted: "OH MY GOD WHAT IS REAL ANYMORE"

Another put: "I just watched the interview and thought there’s no way"

A fifth said: "@ITV please get younger presenters who know how the internet works"

A different user said they were 'screaming' along with various laughing emojis, while another said they were 'dying'.

And someone else simply said: "There’s a glitch in the matrix."

Maybe this episode will inspire a lot more people to make fake tweets about pop culture, in which case, stay vigilant out there folks.

LADbible has contacted ITV for comment.