REPORTS that Britain's King Charles III had died began circulating after a UK radio station unexpectedly broadcast an announcement of his death.
Listeners to Radio Caroline heard its regular programming interrupted by an announcement saying that the King had passed away, followed by the British national anthem and a period of silence.
So, did King Charles III really pass away?
Verdict:
FALSE
King Charles III is alive, and the announcement was broadcast by mistake.
Radio Caroline, an independent radio station based in Essex, apologised after erroneously announcing the death of the British monarch on May 19.
Since then, stories of the monarch's "death" has resurfaced several times on social media.
A member of staff was carrying out maintenance on a studio computer and came across pre-recorded files prepared for the eventual death of the monarch.
According to findings subsequently reported by Britain's communications regulator Ofcom, the staff member played one of the files out of curiosity without realising that doing so would trigger the announcement over the station's live output.
The broadcast activated Radio Caroline's procedure prepared for the death of a monarch, interrupting normal programming before the station played God Save the King and fell silent for about 16 minutes.
About half an hour after the erroneous announcement, a presenter informed listeners that the information had been broadcast by mistake due to a technical issue and apologised.
Radio Caroline later issued a formal apology to King Charles and its listeners for any distress caused, saying the incident had resulted from a computer error.
The King was, in fact, carrying out engagements in Northern Ireland with Queen Camilla around the time of the mistaken broadcast.
There is also ample more recent evidence that the 77-year-old monarch remains alive and carrying out his duties.
The Royal Family's official website recorded messages from the King as recently as Aug 2 for the opening and closing of the Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games, while the official Court Circular continued to record royal engagements in August.
The death report was therefore the result of an accidental radio broadcast, not an announcement of the King's actual death.
Sources:
1. https://www.fashiontimes.co.uk/radio-caroline-accidental-king-charles-death-broadcast-1762514
2. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckge094k2k1o
