Queen talks 'Thrones,' sets Twitter ablaze

Queen Elizabeth II rarely stuns her nation, let alone Twitter, with her annual televised, tame Christmas Day speech.

Until now.

She gave a shout-out, well, just a mention really, to...are you ready? Game of Thrones, the HBO fantasy whose Belfast set she visited earlier this year:
The benefits of reconciliation were clear to see when I visited Belfast in June. While my tour of the set of Game of Thrones may have gained most attention, my visit to the Crumlin Road Gaol will remain vividly in my mind.
Twitter lit up with posts from the U.K.

There were plenty more similar tweets. Why the fuss?

Because Brits know the Christmas speech, shown at 3 p.m. Christmas day, and which usually is prerecorded, is the only speech the Queen ever writes herself, without interference from palace or government minons.

Typically, the speeches are high-toned appeals to family and faith. She's never been known to sneak in pop-culture references, even though, when it's important to Britain's image, she's game to jump into the pop-culture pool.

In fact, when she visited the GoT's Belfast set, it was to show support for the show's  boost to the Belfast economy. It was huge news all over the world, partly because the pictures of her gazing (looking distinctly unamused) at one of the show's actual prop thrones, were priceless.

No matter how mild her comments, her subjects seemed to be delighted she said anything about the show at all.

It shows how their 88-year-old monarch, coming up on 63 years on the throne, is still able to evolve with the times. Brits are still chuckling about the faux James Bond/parachute jump stunt she participated in for the London Olympics in 2012.

But about Thrones: Could she really be a fan? Do they even have HBO at Buckingham Palace? She's not saying.

http://youtu.be/Y2whLW5F5mY




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