Buckingham Palace was forced to issue a statement confirming King Charles III was not dead, following Russian media reports.
Russian news sites reported that the King had died aged 75 following cancer complications.
The news came after a ‘statement’ from ‘Buckingham Palace’ was posted reporting Charles’ ‘unexpected death,’ which began going viral on social media.
Russian newswire Sputnik reported: “King Charles III of Great Britain has died at the age of 75.”
“There is no information about this on the royal family website or in the British media.”
However, their stories were updated when the British embassy in Moscow debunked the claims.
“Reports of the death of King Charles III of Great Britain are fake!” the British Embassy wrote on X.
The British Embassy in Kyiv followed soon after with a statement that read:
“We would like to inform you that the news about the death of King Charles III is fake.”
‼️Сообщения о смерти Короля Великобритании Карла III – фейк! pic.twitter.com/e9dHgXInV6
— UKinRussia🇬🇧🇷🇺 (@ukinrussia) March 18, 2024
The Daily Mail reported:
Several prominent outlets reported the bogus news but it was not immediately clear whether they had made an error or whether Vladimir Putin’s propaganda machine was directly behind it.
The sick stunt involving the monarch followed criticism in Britain and other Western countries of Vladimir Putin’s election ‘victory’ in a ‘rigged’ presidential election.
The British embassy’s Telegram channel posted a notice in Russian to stress the reports were fake.
‘Reports about the death of King Charles III of Great Britain are fake,’ said the announcement, shortly after the British Embassy in Ukraine issued a similar message.
Early outlets running the fake report were RIA, Sputnik, Readkovka and Mash – staunchly pro-Putin outlets – but all later corrected their stories.
Mash media outlet wrote: ‘Britain’s King Charles III has died, Buckingham Palace reports. The son of Elizabeth II ascended the throne less than a year ago – the coronation took place on May 6, 2023. He was 75 years old.’
It updated to say ‘the message turned out to be fake’ while adding: ‘Let us remember that a few months ago he was diagnosed with cancer.’
But the outlet later stated: ‘The fake news about the death of Charles III quickly spread and was just as quickly debunked.
‘The King of Great Britain is alive and continues to go about his business. At least that’s what Buckingham Palace says.’
