Queen Elizabeth II passed away on September 8, 2022, at her Scottish castle. She was at the helm for over 70 years, making her the longest-reigning monarch of the United Kingdom. The state funeral will take place on September 19, 2022, after a series of processions to honour the queen.
Against this backdrop, a video showing a choir singing Indian shlokas at Buckingham Palace in London is doing the rounds on social media. Many social media users have shared the video, claiming that the choir is singing these shlokas to bid farewell to the queen.
A Facebook user posted the viral video with a caption: This is superb! Especially when we were slaves to the queen for 98 years and now she has been bade farewell with our OM! So proud to be an Indian.
You can watch the video here.
FACT CHECK
NewsMobile fact-checked the viral video, and found it to be misleading.
Looking closely at the video, we can see the logo of the Delhi 2010 Commonwealth Games in the background on the stage. We can also spot www.wildfilmsindia.com written on the video. Taking a cue from this, we conducted a Google Keyword Search and landed on a May 22, 2019, YouTube video, titled: Students of St James School Choir recite shlokas at Buckingham Palace published on the official and verified channel of Wild Films India.
The description of the video reads: The St James School Choir recites a spiritual poem called the shlokas at Buckingham Palace during the CWG Queen Baton 2010, hinting that the video is from the Queen Baton relay ceremony before 2010 Commonwealth Games. The keyframes of the YouTube video match exactly with the viral video.
The official Facebook account of XIX Commonwealth Games 2010 Delhi has also carried a video, dated November 25, 2009, covering the highlights from the Baton relay programme held in 2009 before the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi. The caption of the video reads: “The Queens Baton Relay 2010 Delhi was launched on October 29,2009 at Buckingham Palace in London, when the baton containing Her Majesty’s message was entrusted to Abhinav Bindra…..”
The video keyframe at the 00:28 second mark matches exactly with one of the frames of the viral video.
We also came across a news coverage, dated October 30, 2009, with a title: Commonwealth baton starts journey to India, published on the official YouTube channel of ABC News Australia.
The video starts around the finishing moments of the shlokas, but we can find similarities in the background between the viral video and news report.
The description of the video states that Queen Elizabeth II and India’s then President Pratibha Patil launched the baton relay for the 2010 Commonwealth Games, proving that the video is not recent but from 2009.
Therefore, we can conclusively say that the viral video claiming a choir singing shlokas to bid farewell to Queen Elizabeth II is misleading.
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