The viral image is edited. The image originally shows the British Empire’s Queen Elizabeth II honouring Sir Simon Russell Beale as Knight Bachelor and not a cat.
An image showing the Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II honouring a cat is widely circulating on social media with the claim that the cat named Ruben is the first cat in Britain to be awarded honours as a Sir by Queen Elizabeth II.
The caption of the post states, “#RubenTheCat, I am very proud to finally announce that I have become the first cat to be awarded honours by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. Love, Sir Ruben J. Cat, KBE”
Fact Check-
We started our investigation by running a reverse image search on Google that led us to the stock image website Alamy that stated that the image was captured on 10 October 2019. Yui Mok captured the photograph. The caption of the image states, “Sir Simon Russell Beale is made a Knight Bachelor of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace.”
According to PA Image, this image shows Sir Simon Russell Beale receiving the honour of becoming a Knight Bachelor of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace. Yui Mok captured the image on 10 October 2019.
Below you can see a comparison between the viral image on social media and the original image. This makes it clear that the viral image is edited. The image shows the British Empire’s Queen Elizabeth II honouring Sir Simon Russell Beale as Knight Bachelor and not a cat.
Conclusion-
Fact Crescendo found the viral image digitally edited. The original image does not show British Empire’s Queen Elizabeth II honouring a cat. It shows the Queen honouring Sir Simon Russell Beale as Knight Bachelor.
Title:Image of Queen Elizabeth II honouring a cat is Edited.
Fact Check By: Drabanti GhoshResult: Altered
