Charles Iii

Did King Charles III give official notice that he has revoked U.S. independence, effective immediately, will reign as monarch and that "The nincompoop you've elected as President will go to gaol", as social media posts claim? No, that's not true: There was no official statement to that effect from the British monarch. No such statement appeared on Buckingham Palace social…

Did the BBC publish an article about King Charles III being in "critical condition" on March 18, 2025? No, that's not true: Neither live nor archived versions of the BBC website contained that report. Buckingham Palace did not make the purported announcement on that day. The claim was spread on X by a self-described "troll account". The claim appeared in…

Did the Ukrainian government state that "eight mansions owned by Ukrainian military officials" were "burned down in wildfires in Los Angeles" in January 2025? No, that's not true: A video that made this assertion contained the logo of United24, the official fundraising platform of the Ukrainian government. A United24 spokesperson and Ukraine's Center for Countering Disinformation said this video is…

Did Prince William ascend to the British throne following the death of his father King Charles III and expel Queen Camilla from the royal family? No, that's not true: There is no news of King Charles' passing at the time of writing, and the royals' website shows that William remains Prince of Wales on November 18, 2024. The site where…

Did the U.K.'s King Charles III die on or before June 24, 2024 as a post on Facebook claimed? No, that's not true: As of this writing on June 26, 2024, the king of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and head of the Commonwealth, was alive. There have been no official announcements or credible reports regarding…

Did Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy buy the luxury Vuni Palace Hotel in Cyprus? No, that's not true: There is no credible evidence that the Ukrainian leader bought the resort on the northern coast of the island nation. In an online statement, the Ukrainian embassy in Cyprus called the claim "Russian propaganda" and "yet another lie aimed at discrediting Ukraine and…

Does a photo of a toddler walking past the debris of burned village homes portray the damage caused by foreign mercenaries in Ukraine? No, that's not true: The image is a screenshot of a 2015 staged music video. In 2024, the picture was reused by the resources formerly controlled by now-deceased Russian mercenary boss Evgeny Prigozhin. The claim appeared in…

Did Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy buy the Highgrove mansion from the United Kingdom's King Charles III? No, that's not true: A representative of Grant Harrold, a former royal butler who was cited as the main source in an online article making the claim, told Lead Stories that the claim is "completely false." Lead Stories found several signs pointing to AI-generated…

Did a video on social media capture "the lead advisor to the World Economic Forum" advocating for making "useless people" addicted to drugs and video games? No, that's not true: The recording showed a pre-pandemic discussion about the societal dangers stemming from rapid technological development and growing health care inequalities. One of the two participants, Yuval Harari, is not "the…

Do 222 contributions with "zero donor information" to the campaign of Fulton County, Georgia, District Attorney Fani Willis prove there was fraud? No, that's not true: An Emory University political science professor emeritus told Lead Stories, "Looks like they're all very small donations for which donor info is not required under Georgia law." Other political scientists said the same. The…