Queen Elizabeth Is Immortal

About

Queen Elizabeth Is Immortal refers to a series of memes referencing the former Queen of the United Kingdom’s remarkably long-lasting reign and life. The meme arose in March 2020, particularly following the news that her son, Charles (Prince of Wales and current King of England), recently tested positive for COVID-19, sparking speculation that she may outlive him. Memes referring to the Queen’s immortality were commonly seen on a number of social media platforms (mainly Reddit) in late March 2020, often depicting her as the sole survivor of humanity in an apocalyptic future. In September 2022, the Queen died.

Origin

Queen Elizabeth II was 93 years old at the time memes about her immortality went viral and 96 when she died, making her the longest-living and longest-reigning British Monarch, the longest-serving female head of state (and monarch) in history, and both the oldest and longest-serving current head of state. On March 25th, 2020, during the coronavirus pandemic, news broke that her son Prince Charles, now King Charles, tested positive for COVID-19. Despite coverage claiming that he remained in good health during his sickness, many began to speculate that the Queen would indeed outlive her son -- a prediction that’s circulated for a number of years before this. The announcement, combined with her longevity and good health at such an old age, resulted in a slew of memes claiming that Queen Elizabeth was immortal.

One such example was posted on March 25th, 2020, shortly after the story broke on Prince Charles. Redditor^[1] busoshoku_brisingr posted the first meme (seen below) to the r/dankmemes sub under the title, “Old queen lady immortal haha,” and received nearly 100,000 upvotes, 666 comments and a couple of Reddit awards.

Spread

Several other users on Reddit then began joining in on the trend over the next few hours and days. On March 25th, 2020, Redditor^[2] 100DicksInYourBum posted a variant to the r/memes sub picturing a man drinking “immortality juice” (shown below) and received over 53,000 upvotes.

Redditor^[3] pstros789 uploaded one of the earliest examples showing Queen Elizabeth outliving humanity on March 25th, 2020, to the r/dankmemes sub. This meme (seen below) was given a Mod’s Choice Award in addition to numerous other awards, over 73,000 upvotes and 551 comments.

Another variant using the format featuring Sonic the Hedgehog pointing at his old CGI design was posted on March 25th, 2020, by Redditor^[4] DeapoolsConscience to the r/memes sub. The post (shown below) received nearly 42,000 upvotes and 223 comments.

On March 26th, 2020, Redditor^[5] FluuBk uploaded a version to the r/memes sub (seen below), where it garnered over 110,000 upvotes, almost 1,000 comments and several Reddit awards.

The theme then crossed over to Twitter^[6] on March 27th, 2020, when user Ogbame Justus replied to a CNN Breaking News post following the announcement that Prime Minister Boris Johnson had also tested positive for the virus earlier that morning. The tweet (shown below) received 72 likes.

The woman has lived for 2000 years, do you think Coronavirus can do what the black plague could not. She is immortal, we may just find the cure for the virus in her blood

— Ogbame Justus (@ogbame_justus) March 27, 2020

After Queen Elizabeth's Death

Following Queen Elizabeth II's death on September 8th, 2022, several people posted memes referencing her supposed immortality. On that day, Twitter^[7] user @bigsalmon96 posted, "WHAT THE FUCK YOU MEAN SHES DEAD, THIS IMMORTAL WOMAN DIED, MEGAMIND WAS RIGHT THERE IS NO QUEEN OF ENGLAND, GOD DID NOT SAVE THE QUEEN," garnering over 1,100 likes in a day. On the same day, Twitter^[8] user @Girlanachronis6 wrote, "HOW THE PISS DID THE QUEEN DIE?? I THOUGHT SHE WAS IMMORTAL??? SHE LIVED THROUGH NAZIS AND AMONG US IN ONE LIFE TIME," garnering over 2,000 likes in a day.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References