Former British pirate radio station Radio Caroline has issued a public apology after mistakenly announcing the death of King Charles III due to what it described as a computer error.
The embarrassing incident occurred on May 19 at the station’s main studio in Maldon, Essex, triggering an emergency broadcast procedure normally reserved for the death of a British monarch.
According to station manager Peter Moore, the technical glitch unintentionally activated the official “death of a monarch” protocol that UK broadcasters keep prepared for national emergencies.
As part of the procedure, Radio Caroline temporarily went silent on air, immediately alerting staff that something had gone wrong.
“Radio Caroline then fell silent as would be required, which alerted us to restore programming and issue an on-air apology,” Moore explained in a Facebook statement.
The station later apologised directly to King Charles and listeners for the distress caused by the false announcement.
“We apologise to His Majesty the King and to our listeners for any distress caused,” Moore said.
He also stressed that Radio Caroline had proudly broadcast Christmas messages from both the late Queen Elizabeth II and King Charles over the years, adding that the station hoped to continue doing so “for many years to come”.
The mistaken announcement happened while King Charles and Queen Camilla were visiting Northern Ireland, where they attended a performance involving an Irish folk music group.
It remains unclear how long the incorrect broadcast stayed on air before being detected. However, Britain’s Press Association reported that archived playback of Radio Caroline’s May 19 broadcast between 1.58pm and 5pm later became unavailable on the station’s website.
Founded in 1964, Radio Caroline famously challenged the BBC’s broadcasting monopoly by operating from ships positioned off the English coast during the golden age of pirate radio.
Despite crackdowns on offshore broadcasters in the late 1960s, the station continued operating intermittently for years and later became an iconic symbol of rebellious British radio culture.
The station’s colourful history even inspired the 2009 comedy film The Boat That Rocked, starring Bill Nighy and Philip Seymour Hoffman.
