Royals targeted in Russia’s disinformation war with fake story about King selling Highgrove

Get the free Morning Headlines e mail for information from our reporters the world over

Sign as much as our free Morning Headlines e mail

A Russian disinformation community has made a collection of false claims about the British royal household in its ongoing data war with Ukraine.

Among the inaccurate allegations being made by pro-Kremlin campaigners is the suggestion circulating on fake information websites that King Charles has offered his royal residence Highgrove House to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky for £20m.

The weird report was initially made in a YouTube video that featured somebody who claimed to be the property agent behind the made-up sale. However, safety consultants informed The Times the character, named Sam Murphy, seemed to be AI-generated.

The information was then unfold by a fake British outlet earlier than it was circulated by a lot of English, French, German and Italian bots on X, previously Twitter.

A web site referred to as The London Crier printed an article that includes a supposed interview with Charles’ former butler Grant Harrold. In it, Mr Harrold is claimed to have confirmed the sale of Highgrove as having been accomplished by way of Mr Zelenskyy’s spouse Olena on 29 February, and that employees on the royal residence had been laid off.

Even an official Russian embassy account then tweeted the fake information to its hundreds of followers.

However, Mr Harrold, who’s now a royal commentator, informed The Times that the story and the interview it claimed to be primarily based on was completely made up. His spokeswoman stated: “This story is completely false and Grant has made no comment on this. There was no interview that took place.”

Kyiv was even compelled to publicly refute the Highgrove story, which bears similarities with different makes an attempt, ungrounded in any reality, to suggest the Zelenskyys are financially benefiting from the Ukraine war.

Ukrainian state media reported: “This is a fake. There is no information in the British media about Zelensky’s purchase of the mansion, and there are no official statements on the matter.”

It is the most recent in a collection of makes an attempt by Russian propaganda to focus on the British royal household, as tales about the monarchy dominate headlines.