Councillor defends ‘Kill the King’ post
A WELSH councillor who posted a Facebook post featuring a song called “Kill the King” says it was not intended to be anti-monarchy.
Dave Jones, who represents the Glyn-y-Marl ward in Llandudno Junction, Conwy, came under fire from angry royalists when he posted the song by rock band Rainbow onto his personal Facebook account.
The Labour councillor posted the song onto his Facebook “story” on Thursday, alongside a photograph of Conwy Castle – five days after King Charles III was crowned.
Cllr Jones said Facebook then automatically added the song’s lyrics to the post, which has since been removed.
The lyrics added by Facebook read: “Kill the king, tear him down, kill the king, yeah, strike him down.”
Cllr Jones’ post was shared on Twitter by an angry constituent, who tagged in Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer in the tweet.
Now, Cllr Jones insists he didn’t mean to offend anyone.
“I’ve got a councillor page, which is usually information, but this was my personal Facebook page,” he said.
“I used a picture and created a Facebook story, using a song by the band Rainbow, and the picture is of Conwy Castle.
“I think most people know King Edward built this castle to help rule over north and mid-Wales, hence my use of the song ‘Kill the King’, which is a medieval-type soundtrack.
“So it has nothing to do with our present King Charles III.
“When I posted this yesterday, which was May 11, King Charles was never in my mind.
“The only thing that was in my mind was that it was a lovely picture of Conwy Castle and that Conwy Castle was built by Edward I.
“Edward I built it to rule over North Wales, and I just thought it was a fun thing to do to put the song ‘Kill the King’ on the post.
“OK, Edward I has been dead a long time, but it was just because he built the castle.”
He added: “If me putting a song on social media offended royalists, it’s a song and I didn’t put it there about our present king.”
A spokeswoman for Conwy County Council said: “The post has been made by the councillor in his personal capacity and is not linked to Conwy County Borough Council in any way.”