The Queen’s greatest pop culture moments
Elizabeth II was instantly thrown into the world of pop culture following her birth. She received her first book dedication from Winnie the Pooh author A.A Milne as a newborn and was introduced to the world when she landed a 1929 Newsweek cover at only three years old. Fast forward to the present day, and by the time of her death on September 8th, at age 96, the Queen was arguably the most recognisable public figure on the planet. Throughout Her Majesty’s reign, there were plenty of technological advancements including TV television and the internet, which pushed her notoriety to new heights. Here we take a look back at the Queen’s major pop culture milestones across the years from skydiving with James Bond to sitting in the front row at London Fashion Week…
Beatles Tribute (1969)
‘Her Majesty’ was a 26-second hidden track on The Beatles’ Abbey Road album, written by Paul McCartney in which he sang “Her Majesty’s a pretty nice girl”. The year the album was released, McCartney revealed that he wrote the “little tune” in Scotland. “I can never tell, like, how tunes come out. I just wrote it as a joke, you know.”
In 2002, everything came full circle after he performed the song at Buckingham Palace Gardens for the Queen’s Golden Jubilee concert. McCartney took to the stage and opened with Her Majesty, afterwards, he shrugged, “I had to do it.”
Pop art (1985)
“I want to be as famous as the Queen of England,” Andy Warhol famously once said. In 1985, the artist paid homage to Elizabeth II through his Reigning Queens screen print series. Four of the pieces featured the Queen as a two-dimensional symbol that Warhol overlaid with his iconic colour blocks. It seems the Queen was a fan of Warhol’s work as she decided to purchase the four portraits for her Royal Collection and displayed them during an exhibit at Windsor Castle.
A Question of Attribution (1988)
Many years before The Crown depicted the Queen’s betrayal by long-time advisor Anthony Blunt, the saga was fictionalised in the 1988 Alan Bennett play A Question of Attribution. The play was then adapted into a BAFTA-winning TV special of the same name.
The Queen & I (1992)
Now, imagine if the Queen was suddenly stripped of her wealth and was forced to live like a regular working-class Brit. That’s exactly the concept author Sue Townsend tackled in her best-selling novel The Queen & I. Townsend wonders up a scenario in which an elected People’s Republican Party kicks the Windsors out of Buckingham Palace and tells them to, in essence, get to work. In this political satire, Townsend imagines a parallel universe in which the Queen buckles down in her working-class home learning how to budget on a state pension. Meanwhile, Prince Charles takes a turn for the worse and grows out a ponytail and goes to prison.
An animated dance with George Michael (2002)
The Queen finally let loose on the Buckingham Palace balcony, although it came in the form of an animation and George Michael music video. The video was for Michael’s protest song, ‘Shoot the Dog,’ which criticised Tony Blair and George W. Bush. According to Wham!’s late manager, Her Majesty was actually a fan of Michael’s and requested to meet him and the group at a 1985 polo match. To my amazement, on greeting them, the Queen knew all of their hits and spent a great deal of time listening to their exploits,” wrote Morrison in his memoir. Michael confirmed the meeting separately, telling the press, “She asked me about China and said that she hadn’t been there but that she might be going there next year. She was really very sweet. And small.”
Johnny English saves Her Royal Highness (2003)
In the famous Rowan Atkinson spy parody, Johnny English, John Malkovich forces the Queen to abdicate by threatening her beloved corgis. During Malkovich’s coronation, a dramatic shadow erupts as Atkinson’s title character pulls down the Archbishop of Canterbury’s trousers and swings from the roof of Westminster Abbey. Atkinson admitted that his jokes about the royals are “undoubtedly born out of love and respect and wanting them to carry on. The last thing I would wish is for it to discredit the British establishment or the monarchy because I need it there as a source of inspiration and as a source of comedy.”
The Queen (2006)
Peter Morgan, the screenwriter and playwright, is probably best known today for his series, The Crown. That wasn’t his first foray into the world of the royals though as in 2006 he wrote the biographical drama, titled The Queen. The film was directed by Stephen Frears and saw Helen Mirren take on the title role. The role earned Mirren an Oscar and even praise from Her Majesty herself. The film used both fact and fiction to imagine how the Queen privately handled Princess Diana’s tragic death in 1997. Despite the monarchy’s popularity sinking in the aftermath of Diana’s death, Morgan managed to humanise and evoke sympathy for Queen Elizabeth.
An Uncommon Reader (2007)
For some reason, it seems novelists really enjoy creating parallel universes that throw the Queen into unimaginable situations. Author and playwright Alan Bennet, the author of the aforementioned A Question of Attribution, revisited the Queen with his charming 2007 novel An Uncommon Reader. In the book, the Queen unintentionally comes across a mobile library, while chasing an errant corgi that changes her life forever. Her Majesty suddenly becomes obsessed with literature, hiring a literary Buckingham Palace staffer as her guide into the world of words. After going on a reading binge the Queen feels for the first time in her life, according to Bennett, “there was a good deal she missed out on.”
The Queen meets Bond (2012)
In one of the biggest moments in pop culture ever, the Queen teamed up with filmmaker Danny Boyle and 007 himself, Daniel Craig, to film a comedic sequence for the 2012 Olympics opening ceremony in London. In the parody, Bond picks up Queen Elizabeth from Buckingham Palace before stunt actors in place of the duo parachuted into the Olympic stadium. Cameras then cut away to the actual arena as Bond’s theme tune blared through the sound system. Finally, there were rapturous cheers from the crowd as the Queen herself, escorted by Prince Phillip, appeared in the VIP seats and made her grand entrance.
Game of Thrones (2014)
Back in 2014, Queen Elizabeth the internet pretty much lost it at the sight of the Monarch appearing alongside the actual Iron Throne during a visit to the Game of Thrones set. Although we’d all like to believe that an 88-year-old literal Queen would be kicking her feet up and bingeing the series, it turns out she’d never actually seen the show. During an interview with Graham Norton, Kit Harrington (Jon Snow) revealed that the Queen had no clue who he was, asking him, “what do you do on this production?” Harrington also said that the cast and crew essentially begged the queen to sit on the throne. However, Elizabeth’s team refused, explaining, “She’s not allowed to sit on other thrones, fictional or otherwise.”
The Queen meets Winnie the Pooh (2016)
In a stroke of luck, the Queen turned 90 the same year as A.A. Milne’s beloved character, Winnie the Pooh. The double birthday was celebrated in his 2016 children’s book in which Pooh travels with Christopher Robin to Buckingham Palace to visit the Monarch. “It must be a very great thing to be 90 years old,” Pooh says at one point. This also became a full circle moment for both Milne and the Queen after the author dedicated his book of songs featuring Pooh to the then newborn Princess Elizabeth.
The Crown (2016)
Peter Morgan’s pricey Netflix series, The Crown, reportedly cost $130m for two seasons and may be the most detailed homage to the royals in the Queen’s lifetime. The show is aided by historical and etiquette experts to ensure the series’ accuracy. Storylines combine major historical public events with fictionalised personal tales to give the audience a new perspective of the ruler and her growth throughout the decades.
London Fashion Week
Who could ever forget the Queen’s first appearance at London Fashion Week in 2018, where she sat alongside Anna Wintour in the front row? Rocking a lustrous ice blue suit, Her Majesty presented the inaugural Queen Elizabeth II Award for British Design to designer Richard Quinn. Quinn later revealed to the press that “the queen showed a real interest and commented that she enjoyed the show and that the award is a great new landmark for British fashion, not only for me but for all designers coming up.” Wintour was asked what the two had been discussing after she was pictured smiling with the Queen, to which she said: “She and I discussed how long we’ve both been in our jobs.”
