Fact Check: Did Princess Beatrice cut ties with royal family after DNA test revealed her true paternity?
LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM: The British royal family has been making headlines for a slew of reasons, the most prominent of which being Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's ongoing rift with the family.
However, posts and videos about another royal family member have been floating on the internet for a while now.
The videos and posts shockingly claim that Princess Beatrice, the elder daughter of Prince Andrew and his ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson, has severed ties with the royal family after a DNA test revealed her true paternity.
There have been at least a dozen YouTube videos outlining the shocking titbit, but is there any truth to this? Let's find out below.
Claim: Princess Beatrice severed ties with British royal family after a DNA test revealed true paternity
A bunch of YouTube videos, which have since gone viral, claim Princess Beatrice, who is ninth in the line of succession to the British throne, severed ties with the royal family after taking a DNA test.
On May 29, a YouTube channel, The Prime Expedition, shared a similar advertisement-filled video, with the title "Princess Beatrice Cuts All Ties After Shocking DNA Reveals Her True Paternity."
Nearly two weeks ago, a manager of the Retro Discovery YouTube channel posted another video displaying the same title.
In addition, the thumbnail purportedly depicted Queen Camilla kissing Andrew and read, "Camilla is your mother." The video has received over 371,000 views as of this writing.
Content regarding the shocking rumour was also published on Facebook and TikTok by other users.
Fact check: No credible evidence to back the viral claim
The shocking claims made in the viral videos are completely false, as there is no concrete evidence to back the rumour that Princess Beatrice cut ties with the royal family or even received DNA test results about her purported "true" father.
Searches on search engines, such as Google and Bing, showed no news media outlets reporting about any such incident, according to the fact-checking outlet Snopes.
News organizations all across the world would have hurried to cover the story if any such news had actually happened.
Instead, the rumor was just the most recent in a long line of YouTube videos that used voice narration and made-up stories about well-known politicians and entertainment industry figures, as well as anyone connected to the royal family, all in order to profit from ad revenue.
YouTubers who posted related videos also posted more ad-filled videos in May that included fake DNA test rumors and additional royal family members.
Some of those titles included, "Prince Harry COLLAPSES In Court After DNA Test Results Of Archie Turns Out Shocking," "Prince William Cuts All Ties After DNA RESULT Reveal His True Paternity," and "Queen Camilla's Son Cuts All Ties After Shocking DNA Reveal His True Paternity."
