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Social media was flooded on Monday with claims that King Charles III has died, and some people point to a video of a flag at Buckingham Palace flying at half-mast. Others spread an official announcement that it appeared that the king died on Sunday. But they are all fake. The king is alive, as far as we know.
“The flag is at half-mast at Buckingham Palace. The news circulating about King Charles or Kate Middleton no longer exists,” a common tweet from a blue-checkmarked account. read.
But as many other X users pointed out on Monday, the popular video circulating of a flag at half-mast is from late 2022, when Queen Elizabeth II died. Some users on social media have even posted screenshots of live streams showing the flag at Buckingham Palace. It’s not at half-mast..
Another popular “evidence” that Charles, 75, might be dead is a highly pixelated announcement that appears to come from Buckingham Palace, dated March 18, 2024. The fake announcement just read“The King passed away unexpectedly yesterday afternoon.”
The obviously fake letter has reportedly been circulating on Russian-speaking Telegram channels as well as on Guardian correspondent in Moscow Simply put, the ad “appears to have been created in OpenOffice.”
There have also been false claims that the color of the BBC logo had changed from red to black as some sort of cryptic sign that Charles had died.
“BBC UK has changed its logo from red to black on Instagram. All other BBC location logos are red. That? a viral tweet read.
And while the United Kingdom Independent The media outlet acknowledges that color changes can occur after the death of a monarch, there are versions of the BBC logo online that are simply black and always have been.
There has been great interest in the British monarchy in recent weeks, not least because Charles was diagnosed with cancer in early February. Kate Middleton, Princess of Wales, has not been seen in public lately and underwent surgery for an abdominal problem, sparking conspiracy theories about her health. Buckingham Palace attempted to quell the rumors by posting what it presented as a recent photo of Middleton, but that only made matters worse after eagle-eyed netizens saw clear signs of digital manipulation.
If Charles died soon, it would be one of the shortest reigns of any British monarch, while his mother’s reign was one of the longest. Charles has been king for one year, six months and 10 days.
Only two monarchs have lasted shorter periods. Lady Jane Gray was beheaded for treason in 1554 after barely nine days on the throne. And King Edward V died in 1483 after only 78 days in power. The third-lowest, King Richard III, was on the throne for two years and 57 days, and Charles could well surpass that if he lives long enough.