Over the past week or so, both social media and the press have been obsessed with Kate Middleton, the Princess of Wales and wife to the heir to the British throne.
The princess, reported Good Morning America, “has rarely been seen in public as she continues to recover from the abdominal surgery she underwent in January.
Kate, 42, was photographed on March 4 in the passenger seat of a car driven by her mom Carole Middleton, near Windsor Castle.
Kate’s absence from the public eye, combined with a newly-released photo of her with her children that was retracted due to editing, as well as her husband Prince William’s absence from a royal engagement due to a ‘personal matter,’ have led to rampant speculation online about Kate’s well-being.”
That’s the story Tucker Carlson was chasing when he fell for a massive prank.
The former Fox News anchor was duped by British YouTubers Josh & Archie into interviewing a fake Kensington Palace whistleblower, who was prepared to dish the dirt on the doctored image.
Archie Manners posed as the Prince and Princess of Wales’ former digital content creator, who claimed he had been fired for altering the Mother’s Day image so poorly it was rumbled by the public.
The Tucker Carlson Network, which streams on Twitter (now X), accepted his story after Manners and co-conspirator Josh Pieters forged Kensington Palace employment documents.
The YouTubers’ faked letter of engagement for the whistleblower included a clause stating that the palace had a right to amputate one of his limbs should he fail his probation period.
Carlson’s team failed to detect the absurdly fabricated document, leading to Manners being dispatched to a London studio equipped with a direct line to Carlson for the interview.
We Pranked Tucker Carlson… pic.twitter.com/pGceMRn26t
— Josh Pieters (@joshua_pieters) March 14, 2024
The video has been viewed more than 1.2 million times on Twitter. Carlson did not post the interview to his streaming service, the Tucker Carlson Network.