Elizabeth II, a queen who has become a pop culture icon, "but why"?

• The Queen of England, Elizabeth II, died on Thursday at the age of 96, after seventy years of reign.

• From the Sex Pistols to the

  Simpsons

  and

  The Crown

  , the monarch has inspired many artists.

• Alongside James Bond and Paddington, she participated in the construction of her image as a pop culture icon.

One of the few recognizable figures in the whole world died this Thursday!

During the seventy years of her reign, we saw the face of Elizabeth II on stamps, coins, banknotes, on television, but also on paintings by Andy Warhol, the cover of the The Sex Pistols' 1977

single

posters

, countless T-shirts and even champagne caps!

How did a sovereign as traditional as the Queen of England become a pop culture icon?

Elizabeth II, Queen of Television

Her Majesty's story is intimately linked to the evolution of the media.

The coronation of the young Elizabeth II on June 2, 1953, the first to be broadcast live in its entirety, was the first major event to be broadcast internationally on television.

Many televisions were bought or rented for the occasion.

From the United Kingdom, France, Denmark, the Netherlands and the FRG, its coronation marks the birth of Eurovision.

Within hours, the recording is flown to other countries, including Canada, the United States and Australia.

A winning bet for the new sovereign, since nearly 20 million Britons - or 40% of the population in 1953 - followed the ceremony on the small screen, in black and white, on the BBC.

The accession to the throne of Elizabeth II is followed by 277 million viewers worldwide, between live, delayed and broadcast in cinemas.

Elizabeth II, concerned about Buckingham's image, skilfully controlled her relations with the media during the seven decades of her reign.

She knew, in the manner of Daft Punk, to make herself rare to create the event with each of her appearances on television.

Apart from her traditional Christmas messages, she only made an official speech five times during her reign: in 1991 for the first Gulf War, in 1997 on the death of Lady Diana, on the occasion of the disappearance of his mother in 2002, during his jubilee in 2012, and finally in the midst of the pandemic in April 2020.

Elizabeth II, muse of artists

The Queen posed for more than 175 portraits during her reign.

She posed in front of artists like Cecil Beaton, Lucian Freud and Annie Leibovitz.

When she made the cover of

for her 90th birthday in April 2016, posing with her dogs in front of the lens of Annie Leibovitz, the prestigious magazine made its third biggest sale of the year.

While the other members of the royal family make the headlines of the tabloids, the image and the word of the sovereign remain spared.

The best-known portraits of Her Majesty remain those made by the pop art pope, Andy Warhol, in 1985, where the artist used an official photograph of the monarch which he reworked, like another icon, Marilyn Monroe.

Artist Jamie Reid depicted the monarch with a safety pin on her lip and swastikas in place of pupils.

Elisabeth II also inspired the musicians of her kingdom!

Sir Paul McCartney confessed in a documentary to having had a small crush for his Majesty when young.

The Sex Pistols punks used her effigy and shouted "God Save The Queen".

Many songs have been written about the Queen, often disrespectful, such as that of the alternative rock band The Stone Roses,

, released in 1989, in which they proclaimed that they "will know no rest until she will not have lost his throne.

In the music video for

, British electronic band Basement Jaxx imagines a sassy Queen going out to a strip club.

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Elizabeth II, sovereign of fiction

It is crucial for the unity of the kingdom that the monarch never voices her opinions, so no one really knows her thoughts.

Elisabeth II is therefore a kind of canvas as virgin as it is mysterious on which the scriptwriters can embroider according to their desires.

In the cinema, it is the performance of Helen Mirren in The Queen by Stephen Frears, which remains, to this day, the most impressive and earned the actress the Oscar for best actress and the Volpi Cup for best interpretation. women at the Venice Film Festival.

She also appears as a little girl played by Freya Wilson in the biopic about King George VI, the father of Elizabeth II,

.

Sarah Gardon also plays the young Elisabeth in

in 2015. Samantha Bond plays the queen in the documentary

in 2018.

Queen Elisabeth has inspired many parody films: Jeannette Charles, one of her most famous look-alikes, played her in 1988 in

?

Neve Campbell lends her features to the monarch in

.

She was saved by the Charlots in

in 1975 and caricatured in the hilarious Austin Powers in

in 2002, in

in 2015,

Elisabeth II also made a notable appearance in Steven Spielberg's film,

.

She is also in the cast of

spin-off

.

The Queen was sketched in

, a cartoon about her adorable doggies!

The monarch jumps through mud puddles in the cult children's cartoon

.

Last but not least

… The life of Elisabeth II inspired the showrunners.

In

which takes her life on screen from her marriage to the present day, she is portrayed by Claire Foy for seasons 1 and 2, by Olivia Colman, rewarded for her interpretation, for seasons 3 and 4 and finally by Imelda Staunton for seasons 5 and 6. Emma Thompson plays Queen Elizabeth II in the

anthology series in 2012.

Her Majesty has also appeared several times in the American series

, notably in an episode where Homer crashes into his carriage at Buckingham Palace.

On stage, finally, it is Kristin Scott Thomas who plays Elisabeth II in the London play

in 2015.

Elizabeth II, muse of fashion

Like a Karl Lagerfeld, she skilfully constructed her clothing style to create an identifiable silhouette among all.

Her outfits and colorful hats have a purpose.

Queen Elizabeth II was small and had to be visible to all her subjects during her public appearances.

She has long been dressed by designers working directly for the British royal family, such as Hardy Amies, who created most of her outfits from her coronation in 1952 until the designer's retirement in 1989, but also by Norman Hartnell or Angela Kelly.

The queen's unique look has inspired many more famous designers, such as Stella McCartney, Chanel, Thierry Mugler, Givenchy, and Christian Dior.

Coins and stamps are not enough... The figure of the queen has been the subject of a long series of derivative objects: puzzle, mug, umbrella, biscuit tin, washing-up liquid, pen, etc.

Everything went there, with one exception, any object intended to be soiled such as bibs and other dishcloths.

A windfall for the British economy.

There is even a Barbie at Mattel with the effigy of Queen Elizabeth II and the monarch throne with her Pop figurine!

from Funko among Marvel superheroes, Star Wars heroes, and other Harry Potter.

Elizabeth II, pop culture icon

His Majesty is an inexhaustible source of memes and other Gifs on the Internet.

After years of having her image hijacked, the Queen took the lead at the end of her reign, showing a healthy dose of self-mockery.

In 2012, she participated to everyone's surprise in a sketch on the occasion of the opening ceremony of the London Olympics in which she gave the reply to Daniel Craig.

Surrounded by beloved corgis in Buckingham, she salutes James Bond.

“Good evening, Mr. Bond,” she says, before the couple pretend to get into a helicopter and fly over London to parachute into the Olympic Stadium.

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Even stronger is the surprise video she had reserved for her subjects for her platinum jubilee last June: she had shot a short video where we see her having tea with the famous and clumsy Paddington bear.

Beating time with her silver spoon on her porcelain cup, she kicked off the gigantic concert in front of Buckingham Palace.

In this sequence, quite moving and particularly clever, by facing, as equals, the emblematic figure of British children's literature, the queen completed the construction of her legend.

She then imposed herself as a masterful icon of pop culture, in the service, of course, of Her Majesty.

Series

Platinum Jubilee of Elizabeth II: How 'The Crown' reignited our love for the Queen of England?

Media

Death of Queen Elizabeth II: What the front page photo choices say about your newspapers

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