Fact Check

Viral video falsely depicts Queen Elizabeth throwing foods at ‘African children’

Claim: Video shows Queen Elizabeth II feeding Africans.

Viral video falsely depicts Queen Elizabeth throwing foods at ‘African children’

Our findings show the woman throwing grains at children in the viral video is not Queen Elizabeth and the children are not from Africa.  

Full Text

The death of Britain’s longest-serving Monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, triggered both positive and negative comments from people all over the world. 

She was Queen of the United Kingdom from February 6, 1952, until her death on September 8, 2022. A day after her death was announced, a video shared by kelly Muwana, was reshared by Egemba Uzoamaka with the caption “We have forgiven but not forgotten.” 

The video showed two women in white spraying food at young children who were scrambling to pick them up. 

Viral video falsely depicts Queen Elizabeth throwing foods at ‘African children’
Screenshot of the Facebook post reshared by Egemba Uzoamaka.

 This video triggered mixed reactions as some users in the comment section wished they never saw the video. 

Cynthia Anyanwu wrote, “I wish I never saw this, my heart is broken” while Judith Obianuju wrote, “No wonder some people were not happy.” 

Prince Okoye on the other hand said “…still I forgive you. Safe journey. But how can I invite this video?” 

The original post by Kelly Muwana had the caption “the late Queen and our grandparents.” 

Viral video falsely depicts Queen Elizabeth throwing foods at ‘African children’
Screenshot of the video posted by Kelly Muwana.

 This video has gone viral and was also being shared on WhatsApp.

Viral video falsely depicts Queen Elizabeth throwing foods at ‘African children’
Screenshot of the video shared on Whatsapp status.

A request to verify this and the possible damage it could cause prompted us to verify this claim. 

Verification 

A keyword search showed this narrative has gone viral on Youtube, Tiktok, blogs and other social media platforms. 

A reverse image search on different search engines led to different versions of the video. A 43-minute Youtube video shared three years ago by Cool Facts explains the video captured by the Lumiere brothers is that of a French woman throwing food at children of Indochina.

Viral video falsely depicts Queen Elizabeth throwing foods at ‘African children’
Screenshot of Video shared by Cool Fact.

Another version shared a year ago by Olden Days shows this was from 1900 when Vietnam was a French colony. 

According to Olden Days, this was shot by Gabriel Veyre showing the daughter and wife of a French governor in French Indochina, which is today Vietnam, throwing coins at children.

Viral video falsely depicts Queen Elizabeth throwing foods at ‘African children’

Screenshot of the video by Olden Days. 

The video was also shared by History Upscaled with the same narrative as Olden Days. This video which didn’t have any sound over it had the voices of the children rushing to pick what was being thrown at them. 

Viral video falsely depicts Queen Elizabeth throwing foods at ‘African children’
Screenshot of the video shared by History Upscaled.

The earliest version of this video found was from 10 years ago by ativinnumotmaelandi with the caption “Indochina women throwing rice.”

Viral video falsely depicts Queen Elizabeth throwing foods at ‘African children’
Screenshot of the video shared by atvinnumotmaelandi. 

We also found fact-checks by Altnews and Politifact debunking this.

Conclusion 

Our findings show the woman throwing grains at children in the viral video is not Queen Elizabeth. An earlier version of the video reveals this event happened in a French colony called Indochina, now Vietnam, Southeast Asia.

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