- YouTubers have pranked Tucker Carlson by claiming to be the palace official who edited Kate Middleton's photo.
- One of them pretended to have been fired for doctoring the photo.
- The Internet was full of conspiracy theories about the princess's whereabouts.
Two YouTubers say they tricked right-wing TV presenter Tucker Carlson by pretending to be the royal staffer behind Kate Middleton's photo shoot fiasco.
London-based YouTubers Josh Peters and Archie Manners said they sent an email to Carlson's team pretending to be Kate and Prince William's digital content creator, saying they had been fired for poorly editing a photo of the princess.
in The video was shared on Xpreviously Twitter, the two YouTubers said they faked paperwork to trick Carlson's video producers. Tucker Carlson Network (TCN) In preparing an interview.
The scammers invented an employment contract to scam using the Kensington Palace logo and a clause stating that members of the royal family reserved the right to “amputate one limb of their choice” if Manners failed a probationary period.
“We did our best to verify that your identity is who you say you are, and you're not a fake Navalny or making a joke or anything,” Carlson said in the video.
Manners told Carlson that the photo of Kate, which was released on Mother's Day in the UK on March 10, was actually taken during Christmas, and said he had to delete the Christmas tree from the photo.
“It's an amazing story. Are you saying you did this with their knowledge? Did you free a Christmas tree and remove a hand with their knowledge?” Carlson said.
By the end of the interview, Carlson seemed happy with the exclusive offer.
“That was great,” he said, “and it was really interesting too; I didn't expect to be as interested in it as I was, because you told such a great story.”
YouTube users ended the clip by claiming that Carlson's team said the clip would likely air next week TCN 530,000 followers on X.
Royal conspiracy theories
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Manners told Deadline they decided to share the prank before it aired because they didn't want to feed any more Misinformation about the Princess of Wales.
The internet has been full of conspiracy theories about the princess's whereabouts and well-being in recent weeks, and a Mother's Day photo posted by Kensington Palace did nothing but add more fuel to the fire.
Multiple photo agencies, including the AP, AFP and Reuters, pulled the photo from their sites over editorial concerns, and the Princess of Wales later issued a statement on social media admitting she had edited the photo.
The Princess of Wales's last official appearance was at Christmas.
Kensington Palace announced in January that she had undergone “planned abdominal surgery” and was expected to recover until Easter.
