Thursday 26 June 2014

Elizabeth of House Windsor, Second of Her Name, Queen of the Andals and the Rhoynar and the First Men...

The Queen reportedly noted that the Iron Throne looked quite
 uncomfortable to sit on, according to actress Maisie Williams
 who plays Arya Stark.
As a royalist and a fan of the American HBO show Game of Thrones, as well as the book series by George RR Martin that the show is based on, A Song of Ice and Fire, I was thrilled to bits yesterday when Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II visited the show's set in Northern Ireland yesterday and spoke with some of the actors and actresses from the show- Lena Headey (Queen Cersei Lannister), Maisie Williams (Arya Not-A-Lady Stark), Sophie Turner (Lady Sansa Stark), Kit Harington (Jon Snow, who knows nothing), Rose Leslie (Ygritte, who told Jon Snow he knows nothing) and Conleth Hill (Lord Varys, "the Spider.") There was, I gather, much disappointment on the internet that Her Majesty never sat on the Iron Throne of Westeros, though there are many slightly surreal images of the Queen (Elizabeth, not Cersei) looking at it.

"Believe me, girls, the Starks and Lannisters have
nothing on my ancestors!"
 In my mind, the conversation between the Queen and the cast went something like this:

"So you're saying that whoever sits on this throne is ruler of the Seven Kingdoms?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Bah, amateurs. I rule sixteen."

On a side note, I watched a piece about the Queen's visit on BBC news last night. The presenter demonstrated perfect comic timing when discussing Her Majesty's tour of Crumlin Road Gaol in Belfast, noting that the Queen would be given a tour by two former inmates- First Minister Peter Robinson and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness. You couldn't make it up. Both politicians were interred for a time at the now closed prison for involvement with unionist and Irish republican paramilitaries, respectively. Still, the fact that such a visit could happen is testament to how far reconciliation efforts in Ulster have come over the last decade; just ten years ago, a royal tour of Crumlin Road would have been unthinkable. This visit was far more significant than just a chance to take pictures of the Queen next to the Iron Throne- but admit it, that was pretty cool.

Windsors Are Coming.

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