7 months ago
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A video of Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a reception abroad is being shared with a false claim that he is the first Indian prime minister to be invited by the UK government to a banquet with the British Royal Family. BOOM found that the claims are false, the video does not show PM Modi attending a reception by the British Royal Family and he is neither the first nor only Indian PM to receive an invitation from them.
The video shows PM Modi walking alongside a woman to a reception and later clicking some pictures with a royal family. The caption, translated from Hindi reads, "This is the first time that the Government of the United Kingdom has invited the Prime Minister of our country to sit with them for a banquet at their home. And the respect he received for his good personality, when the royal family even posed for photos with him. This is a matter of pride not only for Prime Minister Modi but for the whole country."
(Original text in Hindi: "*यह पहली बार है कि यूनाइटेड किंगडम की सरकार ने हमारे देश के प्रधान मंत्री को अपने घर भोज के लिए उनके साथ बैठने के लिए आमंत्रित किया है। और उनके अच्छे व्यक्तित्व के लिए उन्हें जो सम्मान मिला, जब शाही परिवार ने उनके साथ फोटो भी खिंचवाया । ये न सिर्फ प्रधानमंत्री मोदीजी बल्कि पूरे देश के लिए गौरव की बात है ।।*"
Click here to view the post and here for an archive.
The video is also viral on Facebook with the same caption.
Click here to view the post and here for an archive.
FACT-CHECK
BOOM found that the video is old and shows PM Modi attending a reception hosted by the royal family of Denmark, not Britain.
A reverse image search of some key frames from the video led us to an article published by The Tribune on May 4, 2022. The article carried the headline 'PM Narendra Modi meets Queen of Denmark Margrethe II' and the feature image matched some visuals from the viral video.
According to this report, PM Modi felicitated the Queen of Denmark, Margrethe II on the occasion of her Golden Jubilee. A press release by the Ministry of External Affairs from May 3 stated that the reception took place at Amalienborg Palace in Copenhagen. He also met the Crown Prince and Princess of Denmark Frederik and the Crown Princess Mary.
The reception in Denmark was part of PM Modi's 3-day state visit to Europe, where he also visited Germany and France.
ANI's video report from May 4 carries visuals similar to the viral video.
The second claim about PM Modi being the first to receive an invitation from the Royal Family is also false.
Jawaharlal Nehru attended Queen Elizabeth II's coronation in 1953, Indira Gandhi attended a reception hosted for Commonwealth Prime Ministers at Buckingham Palace in 1969, and Dr Manmohan Singh was at a reception hosted for G20 attendees by the Queen in 2009.
PM Modi, too, has been received at the Buckingham Palace by the late Queen, once in 2015 and the second time in 2018. He recounted those meetings in this post uploaded on September 8, 2022, after Queen Elizabeth II's death.
