When did Radio Caroline air King Charles III’s death? British radio station’s broadcasting error explained

King Charles III, who is Queen Elizabeth II's eldest son, has lately been the topic of discussion and is currently all over social media after an employee at Radio Caroline, which is a UK-based radio station, accidentally played a pre-recorded statement in the middle of the popular radio program, The Barry Marsh Show, which claimed that the king had passed away.

While Radio Caroline's pre-recorded announcement of King Charles' death on May 19, 2026, was false, as he is stable and quite well healthwise after his cancer treatment, which was diagnosed in 2024, according to People, the radio program host Barry Marsh, after realizing the mishap, took a moment to mention that the announcement was not true and confirmed that the King was alive and absolutely fine.

According to People, the radio host also apologized to the listeners, mentioning that it was a technical issue. The accidental announcement of King Charles' death was a human error, as it was not at all intentional.

The Radio Caroline employee, who made the mistake, was working on a computer and was in the middle of maintenance work, which is when the staffer came across a bunch of files meant for King Charles' death and, out of sheer curiosity, played the files. As cited by People, the radio show host said:

"I’ve just been informed that we’ve played in error some information a little earlier, I didn’t hear this myself, but it is incorrect, it’s a technical issue, and of course we apologize."

Following the incident, the United Kingdom's broadcasting regulator, the Office of Communications, also known as Ofcom, on August 10, 2026, released a news report in which they mentioned that Radio Caroline broke two rules that are part of the Broadcasting Code. Ofcom's first code stated:

"News, in whatever form, must be reported with due accuracy and presented with due impartiality."

The second code stated:

"Significant mistakes in news should normally be acknowledged and corrected on air quickly. Corrections should be appropriately scheduled…"

Ofcom's news report also mentioned:

Radio Caroline "explained that these files are accompanied with ‘a set of strict instructions to presenters and managers’ to follow before being aired, but, out of curiosity, the member of staff played the files, which stopped the stream from the presenter’s remote location, and broadcast the files on air."

Following the false announcement of King Charles' death, Radio Caroline "took the matter very seriously"

Even though the incident occurred due to human error and was completely unintentional, the UK-based radio station informed Ofcom that:

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Radio Caroline "took the matter very seriously, and much activity was taking place during those 30 minutes leading up to the apology" and the station’s staff acted "as soon as they could."

Radio Caroline also informed Ofcom that the employee who mistakenly played those files was reprimanded.

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