The Ukrainian president is said to have bought Highgrove House, the luxurious home of King Charles III, by diverting Western aid. This false information is relayed by pro-Russian channels in the run-up to elections in Europe and the United States, but also by Western accounts which constantly point out that the sums paid to Ukraine come from their taxes. However, it relies on false testimonies and postulates the existence of a sale which is legally impossible.
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Verification in brief
- In a video published on March 31 and viewed more than 14,000 times, a YouTuber ensures that President Zelensky acquired Highgrove House last month, the former home of King Charles III, purchased after his marriage to Diana Spencer.
- The video and its contents were shared by Telegram channels and pro-Russian media as well as by many Internet users, referring to alleged embezzlement of aid from Western countries and their taxes
- The former butler of King Charles III, cited as one of the main sources, told our editorial team that he had never made such comments, and declared that the assertions in the video are “completely false”.
- The property is that of the Duchy of Cornwall, whose transactions over a certain amount are supervised by the British Treasury.
Verification in detail
“Hey Americans, British and Europeans, this is what your taxes pay while you fight to live”, “Where is your money going”, “Weird for a president who runs a bankrupt country!!”. Since March 31, dozens of posts on Facebook and on X (formerly Twitter) accuse Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky of diverting Western aid to buy luxury goods. In this specific case, the prestigious Highgrove House, property of the British royal family.
Some posts shared on X accumulate hundreds of thousands of views. The accusations are based on a YouTube video viewed nearly 14,000 times and posted on March 31 by a supposed real estate channel. The channel has been around since early February 2024 and has only posted three videos, all dated March 31.
In the video, a man appears briefly at the beginning and begins to develop a narrative that Highgrove House was sold to the Ukrainian president, a narrative illustrated by a succession of videos and photos of Charles III, Volodymyr Zelensky and their respective wives. No documents are shown to support the story. The allegations claim to be based on anonymous testimonies from employees of Highgrove House and an alleged assertion by King Charles III’s former butler, Grant Harrolds. Contacted by us, Mr. Harrolds’ team affirmed that the comments made in the video were “completely false”. Furthermore, a source close to the royal family also confirmed to us that “Highgrove remains the property of the Duchy of Cornwall”.
The video was taken up by the London Crier, which presents itself as a British media outlet. Many Internet users have shared the link to his site, which has some particularities that cast doubt on its reliability.
Data collected on the domain name analysis tool Who.Is indicate a date of creation of this site on March 26, 2024, less than a week before the publication of the misinformation. The icons supposed to link to the media’s social networks lead to dead ends and apart from the site, no brand named “London Crier” has an online presence. Since April 4, the site is no longer accessible.
Furthermore, such a sale is legally impossible. Highgrove House is owned by the Duchy of Cornwall. Since the coronation of King Charles III in 2023, Prince William has held this title. When they exceed 500,000 pounds sterling [environ 582 700 euros]the transactions of the Duchy are subject to a control of Her Majesty’s Treasure, responsible for public finances. In the video which recounts the alleged transaction, the value of the property is estimated at almost 20 million pounds.
The story of the so-called sale was also published on the French-speaking site Pravda.fr, singled out by the vigilance and protection service against digital interference (Viginium) in its latest report on Russian propaganda.
For two years and the start of the war in Ukraine, numerous false reports have spread similar stories of purchases by President Zelensky and his close associates of luxury goods, thus denouncing an alleged misappropriation of Western aid.
In recent post, the company Alethea, specializing in the detection of disinformation networks, reports an evolution in the Russian influence strategy. The authors predict “the effort will continue to focus on protectionist and isolationist narratives to weaken Ukraine and deprive it of resources.”
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The Doppelgänger network, named after an influence operation whose existence was revealed in 2022, remains active. Alethea reveals in its report that fake accounts participating in this operation recently shared false information that calls into question the use of “American taxes” in aid to Ukraine. An attempt, according to analysts, to push the opposing narratives to support Ukraine for the next elections.
