Russia media falls for hilarious April Fool's gaffe involving Prince Andrew as RT left with egg on face

An article published by RT, which has since been deleted but is accessible on internet archives, claimed Britain was set to “buy a third Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carrier in response to the growing 'Russian threat’”.

They said a consultation document was circulated by the Ministry of Defence (MoD), and that the new aircraft carrier would be provisionally named HMS Prince Andrew. RT then stated a fictional analyst Brian Robertson, from the made up Daily Mail Comments Section (DMCS) think tank, said the move was "a waste of money and lives”, and one strike would turn the warship into “a pile of scrap metal”.

All of this is entirely fictional and was an April Fools joke reported by the UK Defence Journal. Its editor George Allison shared the news on X, formerly known as Twitter. He said: “I tricked Russian State media into reporting nonsense about an aircraft carrier named HMS Prince Andrew with ‘go faster stripes and crayons’, it's been a fantastic week.”

The editor added: “This was part of our usual April Fools effort—deliberately over the top but shaped so that certain outlets might pick it up. If they believed it, it highlights a lack of scrutiny. If they didn’t, and ran it anyway, it says something about intent. Either outcome is revealing.”

The parody report also claimed the new supercarrier would carry “infinity-hundred” aircraft, be armed with Cold War-era Harriers or “naval Typhoons” launched via six catapults, and would cost the taxpayer £987.6bn.

In a follow up article, which contained a more detailed statement, Mr Allison said: “As part of our usual April Fools’ Day tradition, we published a clearly satirical piece about a fictional third aircraft carrier—HMS Prince Andrew—complete with absurd details like ‘go faster stripes’ and ‘crayons’. It was meant to be obviously fake, and it was written to make people laugh. But there was also a secondary layer to it.

“We suspected that some outlets—particularly those eager to undermine the UK—might pick up the story without checking it properly. If they took it seriously, it would highlight a lack of basic editorial scrutiny. If they knew it was satire and published it anyway, it would say something more deliberate about their intent. Either outcome would be revealing.

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“That’s exactly what happened. A Russian state media outlet picked up the story and presented it as real. It’s easy to laugh, but it also points to something important: how easily disinformation or narrative-shaping content can spread when verification is skipped in favour of a message. It’s strange to call something so silly a ‘serious moment,’ but in a way, it was.

“It showed how quickly falsehoods can travel when they align with pre-existing narratives. It also demonstrated something we value at UKDJ—credibility. That the story was treated as plausible, even in jest, says a lot about the trust people place in our reporting (which we don’t take lightly). This IS a reminder—playful, yes, but pointed—that context, source-checking, and editorial integrity matter.”

For clarification, there are currently no plans for a third aircraft carrier to be added to the Royal Navy fleet, let alone a warship armed with catapults, vintage jets, and “go-faster stripes”.