Did the Grim Reaper appear in the background at Westminster Abbey during King Charles III's coronation on May 6, 2023? No, that's not true: The mysterious cloaked figure noticed by many, during the coronation of King Charles III, is not the symbolic representation of death. A press officer at the Abbey told Lead Stories that what people saw in the video was a verger, a lay minister who assists the clergy during public worship.
The claim appeared in a video (archived here) published on TikTok by the account @nicahunter on May 9, 2023. The text on the TikTok reads:
Everyone saw death at King Charles III's coronation.
The caption, below, adds:
But who is really behind this??
(Translation from Czech into English by Lead Stories staff).
This is what the post looked like on TikTok at the time of writing:
(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Mon May 15 08:52:52 2023 UTC)
The figure in the background in the video is not the Grim Reaper. Grace Long, a press officer at Westminster Abbey, told Lead Stories in a May 9, 2023, phone interview that the figure seen in the video, who has generated so much interest on social media, is actually a verger. She said:
We've had lots and lots of calls and emails about this. We're not really responding, only to say that it was a verger and that's it. ... It's not a priest, it's someone who assists with services.
Lead Stories has also fact-checked other claims related to alleged occult references regarding King Charles III's coronation, such as the timing of the ceremony, which, according to some, would be linked to the Antichrist.
