It usually takes a pretty loud ruckus to force Buckingham Palace’s hand, as it has long honored the unofficial adage: “Never complain, never explain.” But it conceded to the speculation and issued a formal statement denying that King Charles III was dead on March 18. “We are happy to confirm that The King is continuing with official and private business,” Buckingham Palace said in a statement to a Russian news agency (via the New York Post). Meanwhile, a newly published video of Catherine, Princess of Wales and Prince William enjoying an outing at a flower shop over St. Paddy’s Day weekend, obtained by TMZ, confirmed that she’s also alive (although social media isn’t exactly convinced).
Even without these confirmations, Charles and Kate Middleton’s death rumors smelled foul for a few reasons. Amid the chaos, social media users pointed to false signifiers, including the since-debunked rumor that Buckingham Palace’s flag was flying at half-mast — a sign that the royal family is mourning a great loss. However, royal watchers were tricked by old images of the flag that circulated when Queen Elizabeth II died in 2022. One user even posted a recent video proving otherwise. Some royalists also claimed that BBC News had changed its social media logo from red to black just as it had done when the late queen died. However, they confused the BBC News account with the BBC account, which has always had a black logo, according to the Independent.
And this is why you can’t believe everything you read!
