Buckingham Palace was forced to deny reports of the death of King Charles III on Monday after Russian media circulated reports based on a suspicious-looking “announcement”.
The March 18 statement, bearing the seal of the British monarch’s official London residence, said: “The following announcement is made by royal communication. “The king passed away unexpectedly yesterday afternoon.”
The palace issued a statement to the Russian state-run TASS news agency denying the report.
“We are pleased to confirm that the King is continuing to conduct official and private business,” it reads.
The 75-year-old British king has been undergoing treatment for cancer since late January.
It comes as Charles’s daughter-in-law Kate Middleton is fueling speculation about his health following abdominal surgery on January 17.
The Princess of Wales’s visit to a local farm stand with her husband Prince William over the weekend has done nothing to reassure the public about her well-being – due to the curious lack of photos, reports say.
The royal couple’s outdoor trip comes a week after Kate, 42, caused a global uproar for editing a badly photoshopped family photo in which she posed with her three children – Prince George, 10, Princess Charlotte, 8 and Was seen with Prince. Lewis, 5.
Questions about Kate have fueled widespread conspiracy theories about her and the wider British royal family.
With rumor mongers working overtime, several Russian mainstream news outlets and popular pro-Kremlin Telegram channels jumped on the unverified claim of King Charles’s death.
Telegram channel Mash, which has 2.27 million subscribers, was one of the first to spread the fake news, writing in a post: “Britain’s King Charles III has died, Buckingham Palace reports. Elizabeth II’s son came to the throne less than a year ago – the coronation took place on May 6, 2023. He was 75 years old.
Sputnik, RIA Novosti and Ridkovka all followed suit, citing the fake palace announcement.
All outlets later issued corrections to their stories.
“Cancel, we spoke too soon, announcement turned out to be fake,” Mash wrote in an update. “We must remember that a few months ago he was diagnosed with cancer and had surgery on his prostate.”
As he continues to receive outpatient treatment for his unspecified form of cancer, the King held a meeting with the Commonwealth Secretary-General, Baroness Patricia Scotland, on March 13, as seen in a photo released by the palace.
Two days earlier, he had released a pre-recorded video address to mark Commonwealth Day.
Charles is expected to attend the annual Trooping of the Color ceremony to celebrate his birthday on June 15 – either on horseback, as is tradition, or in a carriage.
