An image of the British monarch, King Charles III, has surfaced online with a claim that he died of cancer at the age of 75.
An X user, @Goddie_ke, posted the claim with a caption that read:
“BREAKING NEWS
British King Charles III is no more. Cancer, royal announcement.”
The image shared, which contained the image of King Charles III, was dated 18th of March, 2024 with an inscription that the ‘British King Charles has died of cancer at the age of 75’.
On February 5, 2024, a BBC report shows that King Charles was diagnosed with a form of cancer but the type of cancer has not been revealed.
The post archived here has generated over 300,000 views, with more than 300 reposts and over 2,500 likes as of March 21, 2024.
CLAIM
King Charles III has died of cancer at age 75.
THE FINDINGS
Checks by this researcher show that the claim is FALSE!
Multiple media reports show that the news peddling around about the death of King Charles is false.
When this researcher combed the online web, he discovered that the claim was originally posted by Sputnik, a Russian news outlet.
It has since been refuted by several UK-based newspapers as seen here and here.
The British Embassy in Ukraine gave an official statement on its official X account to confirm that King Charles III is alive.
“We would like to inform you that the news about the death of King Charles III is fake,” the post reads.
The UK Embassy in Russia also confirmed that the reports about the death of King Charles are fake on its official X account.
Using Myaifactchecker, the result shows that King Charles III has not died and that his rumoured death is false as confirmed by various sources including Buckingham Palace and multiple news platforms.
Further checks revealed that there was no information about the King’s death on the royal family’s website or any British media platforms.
Punch newspaper reported on March 19, 2024 that the British monarch hosted Korean War veterans at Buckingham Palace on Tuesday, in what was his first public appearance since reports of his death started spreading online.
“This morning, the King met veterans of the Korean War at Buckingham Palace to mark 70 years since the signing of the armistice which ended the conflict,” the royal family said in the post.
“The UK embassy in Russia had to publish a statement on Monday after reports about the 75-year-old’s death from cancer appeared online, saying that “reports about the death of King Charles are FAKE,” the royal family said this in a post on social media.
THE VERDICT
The claim that King Charles III has died is FALSE; multiple media reports show that the British monarch is still alive.
If not this check, I almost believe this o.