wenn22324933

View image | gettyimages.com

Last year, Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip traveled to Belfast. There were a lot of meetings and appearances on the monarch’s agenda, but what got the most attention was the Queen’s visit to the Belfast set of Game of Thrones (GoT is filmed all over the world, but much of King’s Landing is filmed in Belfast). She got to meet some cast members and see the Iron Throne in person. The photos of that moment – the Queen looking upon the massive, fictional Iron Throne – are now a part of pop culture iconography, and they became a meme (#WindsorIsComing).

Unfortunately, Queen Elizabeth did not sit upon the Iron Throne. It was sad and people were sort of upset that she didn’t take the opportunity for one of (arguably) the greatest photo-ops of her reign. As it turns out though, the Queen could NOT sit on the Iron Throne. There’s some sort of arcane “rule” about British monarchs sitting on “foreign thrones.” Er…?

When Queen Elizabeth was offered a shot at sitting in the Iron Throne, however, the queen politely declined. And now we know why.

“No, she’s not allowed to,” explained David Benioff on Wednesday’s Late Night with Seth Meyers. “Apparently, the Queen of England is not allowed to sit on a foreign throne, so this is an esoteric rule we didn’t know about until that moment. It looks like we’re saying, ‘Don’t touch, Queen.’”

[From The Daily Beast]

You guys… it’s fictional!!! The Iron Throne isn’t a real “foreign throne”. I could possibly see where there would be complications if this were, say, a replica of an actual throne in use somewhere in the world. Or something like that. But let’s be clear: the Iron Throne is NOT a foreign throne. She could have taken a seat on the Iron Throne, but she chose not to.

… Or is the rule “the monarch will not sit on any throne other than her own”? If that’s the case, I could see where Liz was just following the rules, fictional or not.

View image | gettyimages.com

View image | gettyimages.com

Photos courtesy of Getty, WENN.

wenn22325411