Why Are People Enjoying Memes On The Queen's Death? Is It Just Bad Taste?

The Queen of the British Empire Elizabeth II passed away yesterday on September 8, 2022, and almost immediately the internet was divided into two opposite reactions to the news. On one hand, people were mourning and remembering one of the longest reigns by a monarch while others were creating memes and funny content based on the history of the empire and the royal family.

Elizabeth II was one of the most powerful and influential people in the world throughout her reign due to the history of the British Empire and the legacy she held. The people in Britain saw her as a symbol of strength, power and a guardian who must be respected in every way possible. And so did many others even without British citizenship who have great honour for the royal legacy. But it is quite the opposite when it comes to the people belonging to the countries that were colonised by the British for years. With respect to the context, India was under British rule for almost 200 years and the damages and trauma that the citizens survived have affected generations together. So the perspective toward the royal family or the former queen is polarly different.

Queen Elizabeth Memes

Since the news of the death of Elizabeth II was announced people all over the world made memes based on their own truth and perspective. In a live telecast by Cable News Network, a reporter asked a British woman what she felt when she got to know about the former queen's health concerns and her answer was quite shocking when she mentioned she wasn't a fan of the queen or the monarchy and later explained, "It has to do with British colonial history" and she says that things have been "shady". Not just the history of the colonisation but the royal family also had a lot of disputes within the family which seems to not sit well with many.

The Queen might not have ruled over all the commonwealth countries during her reign but she supported the tyranny of her ancestors and did not speak against the terrorising and looting of these countries for ages either. A Twitter user jabbed saying, "Inshallah the Egyptian national museums will steal her casket and put it on display," and it went viral across the platform.

Everyone knows that when the British left India they took the Kohinoor diamond with them which is still a part of the royal crown. And yesterday Kohinoor started trending on Twitter leaving people to resort to making memes about finally the royals returning the diamond to the country it belongs to. One uploaded a picture of several locks on a door and said, "British monarchy after seeing 'Kohinoor' trending in India."

The film Dhoom 2 had a scene with Hrithik Roshan impersonating the queen in the movie and scenes from that have resurfaced all over the internet leaving social media users in splits.

Lady Diana was truly a queen of people's hearts as several netizens put up her pictures to say that she should be remembered as she could be the queen today, following the mystery behind her death and the everlasting controversy of the British royal family's dark past. A Twitter user wrote, "Today, I will remember her because she would have been the Queen today," as they posted a photo of Diana.

The controversial exit of Prince Harry and Megan Markle followed by their fiery interview with Oprah Winfrey revealed some uncomfortable truths about the royal family and the queen and memes about Megan have also gone viral.

For The Crown, one of the most popular shows by Netflix on the life of Elizabeth II, this death becomes a major part of their storytelling for the upcoming season, so many Twitter users took a chance to imagine what the writers must be going through and gave a video representation.

Many have felt that these memes and jokes that are trivialising the death of such an important person and their family who might be in a vulnerable state should not go through such content.

Suggested Reading: Will The Kohinoor Crown Go To Queen Consort Camilla?