A piece of paper stole the spotlight at the Queen's funeral
Forget the crown jewels and the mourners, Queen Elizabeth II's funeral was all about a piece of paper.
Early in the ceremony, a bishop shuffled a stack of papers in his hands, accidentally dropping one of them on the ground. It fluttered out of his hand to the decorative floor of Westminster Abbey, landing noticeably near the queen's coffin.
The paper quickly seized the public imagination, sparking a Twitter account and a fake Netflix series (we need something to watch when The Crown ends, right?).
The Twitter account uses the handle @FuneralPaper with the display name "#Papergate" and a user bio that reads, "Will I pick it up, or won't I? What is on my paper? So many questions, not enough answers."
Imagine being the guy who dropped me during the queen's funeral 🙄 #QueensFuneral pic.twitter.com/s3pLB7Cn98
— #Papergate (@FuneralPaper) September 19, 2022
The account also promoted the fictional Netflix series, posting an image of the paper near the coffin with a title card reading "The Paper" and the branding of "A Netflix original series." The post jokes that the show will debut in January 2023 on the streaming platform.
''Dropping'' in January 2023, @Netflix THE PAPER.#ThePaper #Papergate #QueensFuneral pic.twitter.com/H7inxNM0GG
— #Papergate (@FuneralPaper) September 19, 2022
The moment itself quickly went viral with social media creating slo-mo footage of "the drop" and tweeting about the incident.
The slow zoom onto that dropped paper really is the icing on the cake here pic.twitter.com/3L684a93T7
— Ben Marshall (@benmarshallfilm) September 19, 2022
Piece of paper aerial view on Google Maps, circa 2022. #papergate #queensfuneral pic.twitter.com/pebf93pDsh
— #Papergate (@FuneralPaper) September 19, 2022
When Netflix make the funeral episode will they replicate the paper drop? 🤔 #papergate
— Emma Connor (@WarwickBabe) September 19, 2022
That Bishop who dropped a piece of paper at the #queensfuneral couldn't move to pick it up because it was directly infront of him, rather than diagonally. pic.twitter.com/ddvW7O1JzN
— QualityChimp (@QualityChimp) September 19, 2022
Actual close up of the dropped paper #queensfuneral #papergate pic.twitter.com/MRPu4GC7nS
— Rowan Williams (@Rowanfb) September 19, 2022
The queen's funeral is ongoing in England this Monday morning, beginning with a procession into and ceremony in Westminster Abbey before Queen Elizabeth's coffin made its journey from the Abbey past Buckingham Palace to her final resting place at Windsor Castle. Guests in attendance include members of the U.K. royal family, world leaders, Running Wild host Bear Grylls, and actress Sandra Oh, who is part of the Canadian delegation led by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
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