Many celebrities have been the victim of a death hoax, including Henry Cavill, who has assured fans he did not actually die in 2018, and Steve Harvey, who was reported dead by AI in 2024. Sometimes these false reports are made by accident; sometimes the intent is more nefarious. When it comes to King Charles III’s falsely reported death, however, it was curiosity that killed (but not really) the king.
Back in May, Essex radio station Radio Caroline accidentally reported that King Charles had died, per The Independent. During a regular segment of The Barry Marsh Show, Ofcom — the UK’s communication services regulator — reports that the following messages were broadcast, interrupting a music track to say:
- “This is Radio Caroline; we have suspended our normal programmes until further notice as a mark of respect following the passing of His Majesty King Charles III.”
- “This is Radio Caroline, His Majesty King Charles III has passed away, as a mark of respect we will now be playing suitable continuous music until further notice.”
- “This is Radio Caroline, the news media has confirmed that His Majesty King Charles III has passed away, consequently as a mark of respect, Radio Caroline is suspending its normal programmes.”
I can imagine this caused quite a panic for the station’s listeners — particularly after the king’s hospitalization and cancer diagnosis — and what makes it worse is that the announcement was reportedly followed by the playing of the national anthem and then 16 minutes of radio silence.
It turns out that a Radio Caroline staff member was performing maintenance on a computer when they came across the prerecorded soundbites. It’s not uncommon for news organizations to have material prepared for someone’s death, and out of curiosity, the staff member apparently played the clips — unaware that they would be broadcast live to the station’s listeners.
The staff member reportedly then “panicked and left the premises” as other employees scrambled to correct the error. It wasn’t until 30 minutes later, according to Ofcom’s report, that the mistake was addressed, as the host said:
I’ve just been informed that we’ve played in error some information a little earlier. I didn’t hear this myself, but it is incorrect, it’s a technical issue, and of course we apologise.
In the investigation that followed, Ofcom found Radio Caroline in violation of two rules — the first requiring news to be “reported with due accuracy and presented with due impartiality,” and the second requiring that, “Significant mistakes in news should normally be acknowledged and corrected on air quickly.”
The 30 minutes that elapsed between the initial playing of the errant messages and the on-air correction was deemed not quick enough by the regulation committee.
As for the staff member who accidentally broadcast the audio files, Radio Caroline reported that they had apologized and were “reprimanded,” while the station itself has taken steps to prevent another similar mistake.
The most important thing is that King Charles III is still with us, and that means the speculation will continue over whether he will be able to mend his rift with Prince Harry.
