By: Ankita Kulkarni
April 10 2024
No, Ukrainian President hasn't acquired Highgrove mansion from the British royal family
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Screenshot of a viral social media post. (Source: Facebook/Screenshot/Modified by Logically Facts)
Fact-Check
The Verdict False
The claim stems from a fake news website that is just a few weeks old. Highgrove mansion still remains the private residence of King Charles III.
Claim ID 481233dd
What is the claim?
Multiple social media posts have claimed that Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy bought the Highgrove mansion in England from the British Royal Family for £20 million. Highgrove is the private residence of British monarch King Charles III and his wife, Queen Camilla.
One Facebook post (archived here) claims, “So all that money we are sending to ukraine. To fund some BS war and this joker spends 20mill on a house. (sic)” Archived versions of other Facebook posts making similar claims can be found here and here. The claim is also circulating on X (formerly Twitter), and archived versions of such posts can be viewed here and here.
Screenshots of viral posts on social media. (X/Facebook/Modified by Logically Facts)
However, according to the information available in the public domain, the mansion is still a part of the British Royal Family and has not been put on sale.
What did we find?
We found that the claim originated from an article (archived here) published on the website ‘London Crier.’ The article stated that Grant Harrold, the King’s former butler, confirmed the selling of the mansion, and the deal was negotiated “during Mrs. Zelenskyy’s visit to the UK on 29th February.”
We first analyzed the website and found that it had no ‘About Us’ page or any other page that could give any details about the outlet. The social media handles mentioned at the bottom of the website redirected us to accounts called ‘Codetipi,’ which described itself as a software company on one platform. The social media handles provide WordPress themes and plugins for new websites. The bottom section of the website in question also reads “All Rights Reserved. The London Crier, 1863- 2023.” These discrepancies point to the website being potentially fake, as the website’s domain system record (DNS) available online shows that it was created on “26-Mar-2024.”
DNS information of the 'London Crier' shows the website was created very recently. (Source: ViewDNS)
The article includes a YouTube video that redirected us to a channel named ‘Sam Murphy,’ also created recently, on February 5, 2024. The channel shared just three videos, all of which were about the British royal family. This further indicates that the information from the website is not genuine.
Furthermore, Highgrove is still part of the British Royal Family and used as the private residence of King Charles III and Queen Camilla. The official website of the mansion clearly states that it belongs to King Charles, and there is no mention of Zelenskyy on the website.
The Independent called the viral claim a part of Russian disinformation. The report cited a quote by Grant Harrold, “now a royal commentator,” to The Times, who clarified, “This story is completely false, and Grant has made no comment on this. There was no interview that took place.”
Similar claims of Zelenskyy opulence have been circulating since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Logically Facts has previously debunked some of them here and here.
The verdict
The claim that Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has bought the royal Highgrove mansion in England is incorrect and emerged from a fake website. Therefore, we have marked the claim as false.