“King Charles III is dead.” But no, that’s not true at all. The announcement was made by mistake by Radio Caroline, a local radio station in the south-east of England. The broadcaster promptly apologized shortly afterwards “for the inconvenience caused”. According to English radio, due to an IT problem the emergency procedure had been activated in the event of the death of an English sovereign “which all stations in the United Kingdom have ready, although they hope never to have to use it”.
The “monarch procedure”
“Radio Caroline then remained silent as required, before restoring programming and apologizing on air,” wrote director Peter Moore. Basically, the radio attributed the episode to a computer malfunction.
“The so-called monarch procedure, which all British radio stations keep ready in the hope of never having to use it, was activated by mistake on Tuesday afternoon, mistakenly announcing the death of His Majesty the King,” the station’s director explained on Facebook. Moore cited “a computer error that occurred in the main study.” After becoming aware of the incident, Essex Radio, founded in 1964, apologized live and then on social media to the King and listeners “for the distress caused”.
The 77-year-old monarch was visiting Northern Ireland at the time of the erroneous announcement. King Charles is alive and well: His Majesty’s subjects can rest easy.