US news shows town crier's "official" announcement of royal baby birth – except he's not official at all
81-year-old 'town crier' Tony Appleton turns up to every royal announcement – but he's not an official royal crier. Unfortunately, no one told CBS News...
And so the Duchess of Cambridge gave birth to her third child, the fifth in line to the British throne, with the official announcement bellowed to the world by the official town crier.
But there was a slight problem: the crier, Tony Appleton from Chelmsford, actually has nothing to do with Kensington Palace or the royal family.
Despite Appleton showing up to every major royal announcement since 2013, often drawing cheers and dozens of press photographers, he is not actually part of the official process for announcing a royal birth.
However, that didn't stop US broadcaster CBS leading their coverage with footage of Appleton delivering the "official proclamation" of the royal birth. The video has since been removed from Twitter, but the video below shows how CBS This Morning announced the news.
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Many people on twitter were ready to point out the mistake…
Although others said it’s exactly the sort of thing us Brits might do…
So, all in all, it's a fair mistake to make. But as long as you remember that beefeaters eat beef exclusively and that the Black Rod is only an inanimate black carbon rod then we'll let you off.
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