No, King Charles III is not dead!
Buckingham Palace has denied reports that His Majesty passed away on Monday after several Russian media outlets ran with the fake news! Many mainstream Russian publications and popular pro-Kremlin Telegram channels were seemingly duped by an “announcement” supposedly coming from Buckingham Palace, which declared:
“The following announcement is made by royal communications. The King passed away unexpectedly yesterday afternoon.”
The now-viral letter was dated “Monday, 18th March 2024” and had the palace’s seal on the top. However, it was not posted to ANY official royal channels.
Related: William Reportedly Comparing Kate’s Press Attention To Diana’s
See a glimpse at the unverified announcement (below):
The Telegram account Mash, which has 2.27 million subscribers, was one of the first to post the shocking news, per the New York Post. They wrote in a caption:
“Britain’s King Charles III has died, Buckingham Palace reports. The son of [Queen] Elizabeth II ascended the throne less than a year ago – the coronation took place on May 6, 2023. He was 75 years old.”
Sputnik, RIA Novosti, and Readkovka all followed along, citing the same fake letter. Obviously, this was concerning AF — and also not true! The palace was quickly forced to speak out and deny the death reports. They issued a statement to the Russian state-run news agency TASS, insisting:
“We are happy to confirm that The King is continuing with official and private business.”
Along with the other outlets who jumped the gun, Mash updated readers, saying:
“Abort, we spoke too soon, the announcement turned out to be a fake. Let us remember that a few months ago he was diagnosed with cancer and performed surgery on his prostate.”
The 75-year-old monarch has been undergoing treatment for an unspecified form of cancer since January when he was diagnosed with the disease shortly after having a prostate procedure. He has stayed mostly out of the spotlight ever since, but he did address the public in a pre-recorded video for Commonwealth Day last week. He is also expected to attend the annual Trooping the Colour ceremony in honor of his birthday on June 15, should his health allow.
While a fake rumor like this would be problematic no matter what, it comes amid increased scrutiny for the whole family as Princess Catherine has also been recovering from an unexplained abdominal surgery. Most recently, conspiracy theories have been running wild as folks try to figure out what’s going on with the Princess of Wales, especially after she released a heavily photoshopped image amid questions about her health and whereabouts. Video came out Monday showing her happy and well with her prince, though, effectively squashing at least most, if not all, speculation. Still, with so much up in the air with the family, phony viral reports that the King has died were the LAST thing the Brits needed! No wonder they were so quick to shut it down!
We hope Charles is doing well amid his cancer battle! Reactions? Sound OFF (below)!