Is the United Kingdom's current head of state, Charles III, expected not to become the country's crowned king? No, that's not true: Upon the death of his mother Queen Elizabeth II on September 8, 2022, Charles, the prince of Wales, became King Charles III. The clickbait title of a video that suggests otherwise is false and is designed to make viewers believe that there is a possibility that Charles may not become king, even though he has already been proclaimed the U.K.'s new monarch.
The claim appeared in a video on Facebook on September 26, 2022, with the title "Alert Charles is expected not to become King_." It opened:
Following the passing of his mother, King Charles III used to be formally proclaimed king. However, one astrologer predicts he will never be formally crowned.
This is what the post looked like on Facebook at the time of writing:
(Source: Facebook screenshot taken on Tue Sep 27 21:55:25 2022 UTC)
The video's headline, intended to get clicks, does not reveal any details that prove Charles is not expected to be king. The video, which features stock images of King Charles and his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, opens with a British Union Jack flag and a "breaking news" chyron before immediately asking viewers to subscribe to "my channel" for "amazing contents."
The video appears to use article spinning, a technique that employs a word-substitution program to "spin" versions of content published elsewhere. Such programs substitute similar words or phrases for the published content, but with distorted, often incomprehensible, results.
The robo-voice narration in the 4:40 video closely resembles text from an article posted on the Express website, the site for the U.K.'s Daily Express and Sunday Express newspapers, two national tabloid publications. The article is entitled "Charles will 'never' be crowned King plus 'shock' dates set to rock the monarchy - claims." The prediction that Charles will not be "formally crowned" was made by an astrologist and was not supported by any facts or proof.
The video continues:
Following the passing of his mother, King Charles III used to be formally proclaimed King. However, one astrologer predicts he will never be formally crowned. King Charles III grew to become king without delay after the passing of Queen Elizabeth II and was once formally proclaimed on Saturday, September 10. But will he ever experience a celebratory coronation? According to astrologer Jessica Adams, he might also not.
The news article opened:
Following the passing of his mother, King Charles III was officially proclaimed King. However, one astrologer predicts he will never be formally crowned.
King Charles III became King immediately after the passing of Queen Elizabeth II, and was officially proclaimed on Saturday, September 10. But will he ever experience a celebratory coronation? According to astrologer Jessica Adams, he may not.
Charles, the eldest of Elizabeth II's four children, automatically became king upon his mother's death. The British Royal Family's website details the line of succession.
Charles III was proclaimed king in front of the Accession Council at St. James' Palace on September 10, 2022, as this video from The New York Times shows.
The date of King Charles III's coronation has been set, but has not been publicly announced, according to news outlets. His mother's 1953 coronation did not occur until over a year after she became queen.
The video offers no factual evidence that Charles will not be crowned. Instead, it relies on an astrologist offering her opinion that unspecified "changes" will come to the royal family.
Additional Lead Stories fact checks related to King Charles III can be found here.
