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By Jamie Burton
Senior TV & Film Reporter (Interviews)
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Since the death of Queen Elizabeth II on Thursday, social media has been filled with content linking the British monarch to the classic children's character Paddington Bear — But why?
The longest-reining British monarch, Queen Elizabeth II died at the age of 96 at Balmoral Castle in Scotland on September 8. Emotional tributes have poured in for the queen from all over the globe, with many people choosing to share images and videos that showed the queen and Paddington Bear.
A tweet sent by the verified Paddington Bear account also melted hearts and went viral.
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The popular Twitter account seemingly belonging to Paddington Bear has amassed over 380,000 followers for regularly tweeting wholesome content. "Thank you Ma'am, for everything," Paddington tweeted. His message received over 1,000,000 likes and retweets.
A skit filmed in 2022 for the Platinum Party at the Palace, in celebration of Queen Elizabeth II's Platinum Jubilee, has also gone viral. The monarch appeared in a comedy sketch opposite a CGI version of Paddington, voiced by Ben Whishaw.
As Paddington shows the queen he always keeps a marmalade sandwich in his hat, the queen showed Paddington how she always keeps one in her handbag too. The two-minute-long video has been clipped up online, with Paddington's poignant send-off thanking the queen "for everything" striking a chord.
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Paddington Bear is a character created by author Michael Bond. He first appeared in the 1958 children's book, A Bear Called Paddington. Bond was three months older than the queen and passed away in 2017 at the age of 91. In recent years, Bond's character has taken on a new level of popularity with the release of the movies Paddington (2014) and Paddington 2 (2017).
Though this interaction between the queen and Paddington went viral, it wasn't the first interaction the pair had.
Paddington Bear is from Peru and he was adopted by a British family, and the character has always been linked to the UK. In 1986, Bond wrote the book Paddington at the Palace in which Paddington Bear visits Buckingham Palace where he claims to have spotted Queen Elizabeth II in the window.
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He once again visited Buckingham Palace in 2006, this time in real life for a pantomime play called The Queen's Handbag. It was held as part of the Children's Party at the Palace which was held in honor of the Queen's 80th birthday celebrations.
As well as the aforementioned video which starred Queen Elizabeth II, many social media users shared an illustration featuring the pair walking into the distance alongside a corgi.
The sketch was originally drawn by Eleanor Tomlinson of Willerby, East Yorkshire, England, for the Jubilee celebrations earlier this year. The image appears to have taken on new meaning in the last few days in the wake of Queen Elizabeth II's death.
Tomlinson also shared a new drawing created since the queen's death on Thursday. It shows the queen, her late husband Prince Phillip, a corgi and a horse walking off into the distance.
"Together once again," Tomlinson wrote in the caption alongside the image. "Our dearest Queen Elizabeth, thank you. There are not the words on this darkest day, one that we all hoped would never come. You have left the biggest and brightest mark on all our lives as you pass on to the next life to join your beloved Prince Philip."
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