A video authentically exhibits a member of the British Royal Guard in London punching a person within the face for harassing him and knocking him out.
In mid-2024, a video circulated broadly on social media, with customers claiming it confirmed a British Royal Guard in London, also called the King’s Guard, punching a person who was allegedly harassing him. The posts gained traction on X, with some customers sharing the clip and insisting it depicted an actual occasion.
For example, on Aug. 29, 2024, an X account shared the clip with the caption, “The extent of disrespect is absurd. Unfit for a civilized society,” receiving over 622,000 views, as of this writing:
(@iamyesyouareno/X)
On Aug. 28, one other X account reposted the video, which had first gone viral in mid-June when it was originally posted, receiving 1.6 million views as of this writing. That account wrote, “Good individuals can solely take a lot abuse! Then 💥.”
Nonetheless, the declare relating to the video’s authenticity is fake. The clip in query doesn’t present an actual altercation between a British Royal Guard and a civilian. Relatively, it’s a snippet of a staged scene from an extended video created by the YouTube channel Trollstation, identified for producing gag movies and staged social experiments. The video, uploaded in 2015, was a part of a prank designed to look actual, utilizing actors to simulate the state of affairs.
Trollstation was established in 2013, shortly changing into infamous for its controversial and sometimes illegal pranks. Based on the YouTube channel’s “about” part:
Trollstation is a Youtube channel specialising in hilarious and sometimes surreal pranks carried out in public. Our content material will be deliberately provocative & controversial particularly once we are elevating consciousness for key social points.
…
This channel is just not appropriate for kids youthful than 12 years outdated. It incorporates controversial satire materials, the usage of humour, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to reveal and criticise individuals’s stupidity or vices, significantly within the context of up to date politics and different topical points.
Within the full 5-minute, 16-second video — which was filmed 9 years in the past at places round London, together with the Tower of London, St. James’s Palace and Buckingham Palace — a prankster dressed as a member of the British Royal Guard (then often called the Queen’s Guard, as Queen Elizabeth II was nonetheless alive on the time) staged a number of altercations with accomplices whereas shouting, “Make manner for the Queen’s Guard!”
The snippet of the clip shared to social media exhibits the second when a person with a British accent taunts the soldier and invades his private house. The “Queen’s Guard” seems to lose his mood and punch the person within the face, apparently knocking him out.
British information outlet Kent Online recognized Daniel Jarvis because the Guard impersonator.
Within the longer model of the video, after the alleged assault, a Metropolitan Police officer approached the 2 males and asks the person who was punched to “step away.” The officer then smirks and asks Jarvis if he received his video, to which Jarvis responds with a smile, “Yeah, I received my video.” The police officer gestures for the 2 males to maneuver alongside, indicating that he might have been conscious they had been performers filming a scene. The unique video, titled “Make manner for The Queen’s Guard Social Experiment,” will be seen on YouTube here:
The King’s Guard Uniform Was a Giveaway That the Video Was Staged
British Royal Guards are famed for his or her strict self-discipline and composure, making it extremely uncharacteristic for them to lash out at civilians. They’re educated to face at consideration for lengthy intervals of time to guard the British royal household and particularly King Charles III, therefore the explanation for why they’re now often called the King’s Guard. The prank, filmed and shared on-line, was supposed to look actual and provoke a powerful response from viewers.
To confirm the authenticity of Jarvis’ guard’s uniform within the video, we in contrast it with an precise British Royal Guard on obligation exterior St. James’ Palace (left).
(Trollstation and Getty Photos)
As you’ll be able to see, the prankster’s uniform on the precise lacked the white leather-based belt and chin strap connected to the black bearskin cap, indicating that his uniform may not have been genuine.
UK legislation, as said within the Uniforms Act 1894, makes it illegal for anybody not serving in His Majesty’s Army Forces to put on the uniform with out permission. Nonetheless, this legislation permits for exceptions, comparable to public performances. Based on the British House of Commons‘ analysis briefing on “Stolen Valour”:
It’s an offence for an individual not serving in His Majesty’s armed forces to put on the uniform of a type of forces with out permission. The Uniforms Act 1894 additionally prevents the sporting of any gown having the looks – or bearing any regimental or distinctive marks – of any such uniform. This doesn’t, nonetheless, forestall people sporting a uniform for the needs of a stage play or comparable efficiency.
Though Jarvis confronted no authorized penalties for this prank, he was sentenced to 20 weeks in jail in 2016 for his reported involvement in a staged artwork heist that was filmed for the Trollstation channel in 2015. That prank concerned Jarvis and colleagues coming into the Nationwide Portrait Gallery and Tate Britain in London whereas sporting stockings over their heads, inflicting panic amongst guests and employees.
In a 2017 interview with the BBC, Jarvis mirrored on the staged artwork heist, saying, “I am not proud. It wasn’t meant to be that excessive. … I am unable to change the previous. I do not like hurting individuals or making individuals upset. I do these movies to make individuals snicker and make them completely satisfied.”
Briefly, the viral video doesn’t present an actual member of the British Royal Guard partaking in violence. As a substitute, it was a prank by the YouTube channel Trollstation designed to generate shock and on-line consideration. Due to this fact, we charge the declare relating to the video’s authenticity as “Miscaptioned.”
Snopes has beforehand reality checked movies and pictures presupposed to be actual, together with a trailer that includes Adam Sandler in an upcoming live-action remake of “The Simpsons,” and faked images showing huge sea creature caught by a fisherman.
