Fact Check

Did Trump Say the Queen 'Knighted Me in Private'?

A spurious message allegedly posted on Trump's social media platform, Truth Social, set tongues wagging in the aftermath of Queen Elizabeth II's death.

Published Sept. 12, 2022

PORTSMOUTH, ENGLAND - JUNE 05: Queen Elizabeth II and US President, Donald Trump attend the D-day 75 Commemorations on June 05, 2019 in Portsmouth, England. The political heads of 16 countries involved in World War II joined Her Majesty, The Queen is on the UK south coast for a service to commemorate the 75th anniversary of D-Day. Overnight it was announced that all 16 had signed an historic proclamation of peace to ensure the horrors of the Second World War are never repeated. The text has been agreed by Australia, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, New Zealand, Poland, Slovakia, the United Kingdom and the United States of America. (Photo by Chris Jackson-WPA Pool/Getty Images (Chris Jackson-WPA Pool/Getty Images)
Image Via Chris Jackson-WPA Pool/Getty Images
Claim:
Former U.S. President Donald Trump claimed in a Truth Social post that Queen Elizabeth II had "knighted me in private."
Context

Apart from a single, incessantly shared "screenshot" that could have been easily fabricated, there is no evidence that such a post exists, or ever existed. According to a Trump spokesperson, the screenshot is not real.

Fact Check

On Sept. 9, 2022, one day after it was announced that Queen Elizabeth II had died, social media erupted with chatter to the effect that former U.S. President Donald Trump's had claimed the queen "knighted me in private."

The chatter revolved around a post Trump had supposedly made on his own social media platform, Truth Social. A putative screenshot of the post was met with both credulity and skepticism, mostly the latter. (Nota bene: Foreign nationals are only eligible for honorary knighthoods in the U.K.)

Did Trump claim on Truth Social that the queen had knighted him in private?
She knighted me in private

No evidence exists whatsoever that Trump posted such a message on Truth Social. No such post currently exists, nor are there any signs (in the form of shares, questions, or chatter) that it ever existed. Moreover, every "screenshot" of the supposed post we were able to find on Twitter, Facebook, and other platforms was exactly the same -- only one such "screenshot" exists. It would have taken less than a minute for someone to fabricate it.

There are no archived versions of the alleged post to be found, either. What one does find, regarding the queen's death, in the Wayback Machine's archive of Trump's Truth Social account are posts expressing his and Melania's respect and condolences to the royal family and the people of the U.K.

Finally, we note that The Associated Press reported receiving a message from Liz Harrington, one of Trump's spokespeople, confirming that the post was fake.


Sources

“Guide to the Honours.” BBC News, 6 June 2019. www.bbc.com, https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-11990088.

“Queen Elizabeth II Dead at 96 After 70 Years on the Throne.” AP News/Snopes.Com, https://www.snopes.com/ap/2022/09/08/queen-elizabeth-ii-dead-a-96-after-70-years-on-the-throne/. Accessed 12 Sept. 2022.

“Trump Did Not Claim That Queen Elizabeth II Knighted Him.” AP NEWS, 11 Sept. 2022, https://apnews.com/article/fact-check-trump-knighted-queen-elizabeth-508466052926.

David Emery is a West Coast-based writer and editor with 25 years of experience fact-checking rumors, hoaxes, and contemporary legends.