CLAIM: King Charles III rejects Mnangagwa’s request to attend queen’s funeral
SOURCE: Social media platforms
VERDICT: False
Thursday, 15 September Zimbabweans woke up to a letter purportedly from King Charles III rejecting President Mnangagwa’s request to attend Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral.
The letter was shared by prominent people here and some media outlets here and here.
263Chat later tweeted acknowledging that the letter posted was fake.
This was after the UK embassy in Zimbabwe had tweeted on its official page that the letter was just disinformation.
Tributes to the late queen (Source: Reuters)
Was Zimbabwe invited to attend the Funeral?
The ‘letter’ led to speculation among social media users that Zimbabwe had not been invited to the funeral after having written a letter asking to attend here and here.
According to the UK embassy in Harare, President Mnangagwa has been invited to attend the funeral of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Abbey on Monday.
Reuters also reported the same here, stating that invitations were sent to countries except Russia, Myanmar, Belarus, Syria, Venezuela, Afghanistan here.
Red flags in the letter
While most people easily accept letters on official letterheads as fact, it has become more and more common for fake letters to appear as legit.
However, it may be necessary to look closely at the diction, punctuation or facts alluded to in the communication to ascertain its authenticity .
Red flag #1
The letter is on the Buckingham Palace letterhead. Invitations to attend the funeral would not come from the monarch but from the government officials since it is a state funeral. There are differences between Whitehall, which refers generally to the government/civil service; Westminster referring to Parliament and Buckingham referring to the monarch.
Red flag #2
The Commonwealth is written with a lower cap ‘c’ whereas in official British communication it is referred to with an upper cap ‘C’.
Red flag #3
The letter refers to ‘restrictions’ that still exist. President Mnangagwa is not on the UK travel restrictions list. Only four individuals and entity, are on the restrictions list. These are the Zimbabwe Defence Industries, an entity, and four individuals Anselem Nhamo Sanyatwe, Owen Ncube, Godwin Matanga and Kudakwashe Tagwirei.
Conclusion
The letter that has been circulating, allegedly from Buckingham Palace rejecting the Zimbabwean leader’s request to attend Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral, is false. The Zimbabwean leader has been invited but will, however, not be attending. He will be represented by the Foreign Affairs and International Trade minister Fredrick Shava.
