Image courtesy of Getty Images
In April 2024, numerous Facebook pages posted a rumor about the British royal family claiming William, Prince of Wales, had made a sad announcement about his wife, Kate, Princess of Wales.
The posts all read, “Prince William makes the sad announcement that leaves fans in tears: ‘My wife it’s been…’”
This same text was shared on Facebook in March, too.
One example came from a page named PrayAmerica:
This rumor was shared on Facebook after a March 22 video announcement in which Kate disclosed she had been diagnosed with cancer and was undergoing chemotherapy. The news followed King Charles III’s own cancer diagnosis, which was disclosed by Buckingham Palace on Feb. 5.
“In January, I underwent major abdominal surgery in London, and at the time, it was thought that my condition was noncancerous,” Kate said in the video. “The surgery was successful. However, tests after the operation found cancer had been present. My medical team therefore advised that I should undergo a course of preventative chemotherapy.”
As for the rumor about William, the Facebook posts promoting the supposed “sad announcement” were misleading, false, scammy and outdated.
The Facebook posts each led to various articles about the royal family. These articles were not hosted by major news websites readers might be familiar with. The best way to describe these websites would be with words like “strange,” “lifeless” and “untrustworthy.” Further, some of the websites displayed pop-up ads and other malware, perhaps indicating the goal of some of the Facebook posts was to scam users.
