Councillor defends himself over ‘Kill the King’ Facebook post

Richard Evans, local democracy reporter

A Llandudno Junction councillor says a Facebook post which featured a song called “Kill the King” was not intended to be anti-monarchy.

Cllr Dave Jones came under fire from angry royalists when he posted the song by rock band Rainbow onto his personal Facebook account.

The Glyn-y-Marl ward Labour councillor posted the song onto his Facebook “story” on Thursday, together with a photo 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 then shared on Twitter by an angry constituent, who tagged Labour leader Keir Starmer in the tweet.

But Cllr Jones defended the post, insisting 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.

Facebook story

“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.”