The British embassy in Moscow was on Tuesday forced to give an official statement confirming King Charles III is still alive after Russian media claimed he had died.
A host of Russian news sites and their associated social media accounts reported earlier today that the King had died aged 75 as a result of cancer complications, citing unnamed ‘media’ sources in an inexplicable stream of posts.
It came as an image of a clearly fake statement from ‘Buckingham Palace’ reporting Charles’ ‘unexpected death’ was circulated on social media.
‘King Charles III of Great Britain has died at the age of 75, according to media reports,’ Russian newswire Sputnik reported.
‘There is no information about this on the royal family website or in the British media.’
Minutes later their stories were updated after they were forced to climb down following reports the King was in fact not dead.
The British embassy in Moscow then furiously posted on X: ‘Reports of the death of King Charles III of Great Britain are fake!’
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.’
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.
Pro-Kremlin BAZA online media posted: ‘The Russian media reported the death of British King Charles III with reference to a document allegedly published by Buckingham Palace.
‘The screenshot of the message about the death of Charles III turned out to be fake.’
The fake palace announcement was dated today and said: ‘The King passed away unexpectedly yesterday afternoon.’
Independent outlet Meduza stated: ‘A number of media and Telegram channels reported the death of the British King Charles III – with reference to a fake statement from Buckingham Palace.
‘A screenshot of the statement, which became a news source, is provided, in particular, by the BAZA Telegram channel.
‘This statement is not on the website or social networks of the royal family.’
Russian state news outlet RIA Novosti corrected its earlier report while admitting it was based on ‘rumours’, stating: ‘The press service of Buckingham Palace denied RIA Novosti rumours about the death of King Charles III.
‘He continues to conduct official and private affairs.
‘Information about Charles’ death appeared some time ago in many Russian sources. The basis for it was a certain message, the authorship of which was attributed to Buckingham Palace and which, apparently, turned out to be a fake.’
State news agency TASS reported that the story was fake.
The Kremlin’s own newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta, published by Putin’s government, wrote: ‘King Charles III continues to carry out work and private affairs, Buckingham Palace said.
