Woman in viral video tossing money at children is not Queen Elizabeth II
After the death of Queen Elizabeth II at 96, several videos and photos of her visiting erstwhile British colonies are being shared on social media. One such video shows a woman tossing money or food at children.
By Md Mahfooz Alam Published on 10 Sep 2022 12:15 PM GMT
Hyderabad: After the death of Queen Elizabeth II at 96, several videos and photos of her visiting erstwhile British colonies are being shared on social media. One such video shows a woman tossing money or food at children. It is being claimed that the woman in the video is Queen Elizabeth II.
"We don't mourn the death of Elizabeth because to us her death is a reminder of a very tragic period in this country and Africa's history...If there is really life and justice after death, may Elizabeth and her ancestors get what they deserve," a Facebook user wrote quoting Julius Malema, a South African politician and activist.
Several other Facebook and Twitter users have shared the video with similar claims. (Click here and here to view the posts.)
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Fact Check
NewsMeter performed a reverse image search of the keyframes of the video and found a similar photo on the French website Catalogue Lumière which archives films made by the Lumière company in Lyon, France.
According to the website, the photo is from a film made by Gabriel Veyre which was shot between 28 April 1899 and 2 March 1900 at the French colony of Annam, French Indochina (now Vietnam). The film was screened on 20 January 1901 in Lyon, France, under the title "Indo-Chine: Annamese children picking up cash in front of the ladies' pagoda."
The website identifies the two women as Madame Paul Doumer and her daughter.
We found that Madame Paul Doumer was the wife of Joseph Athanase Doumer, the president of France from 13 June 1931 until his assassination on 7 May 1932.
Further, we searched for Gabriel Veyre and found he was born in France and was one of the early filmmakers in France. Between 1899 and1900, Veyre shot around 39 motion pictures and photographs in French colonies for exhibition at the 1900 Paris Exposition Universelle for the French government. This was 26 years before Queen Elizabeth II was even born.
Taking these as cues, we ran a keyword search and found a video with the same visuals uploaded on YouTube on 28 November 2021. The video was titled "Lumière: Annamese children picking up coins in front of the Ladies' Pagoda (1900)."
It is evident that the viral video is from a film shot by French filmmaker Gabriel Veyre and the women in the video are Madam Paul Doumer and her daughter. Hence, the claim that the woman in the video is Queen Elizabeth II is false.
