FALSE: British princess praises Duterte for COVID-19 efforts

Claim:

Britain’s Princess Beatrice, Prince Andrew’s eldest daughter, praised President Rodrigo Duterte for his efforts against COVID-19.

A graphic circulating on Facebook contains a quote attributed to Princess Beatrice, which reads, “I, the Princess of the Royal Family, would like to humbly praise President Duterte for his efforts in battling the deadly COVID-19. Every leaders (sic) of each nation could learn from him.”

Two readers sent this claim to Rappler for verification. Facebook’s Claim Check tool for detecting potentially false content also flagged at least two posts containing this graphic.

The post with the most engagement acquired 11,000 reactions, 2,400 comments, and 16,000 shares as of writing. Many commenters tagged the post as fake, but some of those who commented or shared the post also seemed to believe that a British princess really said this quote.

For instance, one sharer said, “Buti pa yung ibang lahi nakikita yung effort [ng] presidente.” (At least foreigners see the efforts of the president.)

Another said, “O hayan ah ibang bansa pa pumupuri tapos kayong kapwa Pilipino wala nang naitutulong puro pambabatikos pa simple pagsuot face mask [‘di makasunod] reklamo pa ng reklamo.” (See, other countries are praising him but you fellow Filipinos offer no help, instead you just criticize. Just the simple act of wearing a face mask you cannot follow, you just complain and complain.)

Rating: FALSE

The facts:

Princess Beatrice did not say anything about Duterte’s COVID-19 response. The photo used in the quote card is that of an actress.

No reports contain the supposed quote from Princess Beatrice, nor any other instance wherein she mentioned Duterte.

A reverse image search of the photo used in the graphic showed that it was actress Alba Flores, who plays Nairobi in the series Money Heist.

This week, another false quote card in praise of Duterte’s COVID-19 response made use of a photo of another Money Heist cast member.

In the past, Rappler had debunked posts claiming that personalities praised Duterte, including Queen Elizabeth II. – Loreben Tuquero/Rappler.com

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