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Pranksters posing as a former Kensington Palace employee have claimed they tricked right-wing media critic Tucker Carlson into believing they were fired over Kate Middleton's failure to edit photos.
Josh Peters and Archie Manners originally concocted the story in a video shared on X — which has received more than a million views — claiming the palace had fired them for “not doing a good enough job” over the photo.
But the prank went further when Mr Manners was invited to a London studio for an interview about his experience with Mr Carlson on the Tucker Carlson Network (TCN).
“That was great, and really interesting too. “I wasn't expecting to be as interested in it as I was because you told a really great story,” Mr. Carlson told Mr. Manners after listening to his made-up story.
The couple, whose YouTube channel Josh & Archie features a series of celebrity shenanigans, told Deadline they had “stroked Carlson's ego” by presenting their story as exclusive because “the UK mainstream media won't touch it.”
This photo of Mr. Carlson was taken while interviewing Vladimir Putin in February this year
(Paul/AFP via Getty Images)
The scammers also said they convinced TCN researchers of their authenticity by creating a fake employment contract containing the phrase Every Little Helps in Latin on the logo of Kensington Palace.
It also included a clause under which the royals reserved the right to “amputate a limb of their choice” if Mr Manners failed his probation.
In their initial email approach to TCN, the pair posed as a palace employee named George, who said he was “about to be made a scapegoat” for the furore and was “in the process of being let go.”
“I am fully aware of the ability of the Royal Family to throw people like me under the bus in order to protect their reputation,” the email says.
Mr. Manners told Deadline that after the interview, TCN told him it would air early next week, but he and Mr. Peters decided to break cover now to avoid broadcasting misinformation to the network's 530,000 followers on X.
“We did not want to create more rumours, which were not true, and spread them to many, many people,” he said. “We didn't want to be too cringe-worthy in our video.”
