Queen Elizabeth is in the midst of a brief trip to Northern Ireland, and so of course she carved out some time for a tour of the Game of Thrones set. As one does. Unfortunately she was a spoilsport and did not take the opportunity to sit upon the Iron Throne, thus depriving the world of the greatest photo op of all time.
Care you explain why you're still funding these freeloaders, Britons, when they won't even properly entertain us?????
She was whisked around by show creators David Benioff and Dan Weiss, the AP reports, who betrayed little-to-no sign of disappointment they were dealing with a boring modern-day monarch and not a dragon-taming child queen covered in horse blood. (The whole visit was captured in this 45-minute YouTube video from Sky News.) With the patient smile of an elderly relative who is really so very proud of your school project, dear, but can't quite summon up true interest, Queen Elizabeth was shown costumes and props. Prince Philip trailed behind with his usual air of "What's that you say? SPEAK UP, young man!"
Slow clap for the weapons guy, who got to tell Philip that the blade he was holding was a castration knife.
When she finally reached the Iron Throne, Queen Elizabeth leaned in, gave it a good once-over, and moved on. Probably the right choice, all things considered. Betty seems more like the True Blood type, anyway. Though she did leave with a souvenir:
Photo via AP Images.