‘Gone too soon’: zombie humour on social media as cultural critique of the British monarchy

When Prince Philip died on 9th April 2021 aged 99, the media coverage was extensive. Not only did the BBC dedicate wall-to-wall coverage to his passing (and received nearly 110,000complaints from viewers for it), but social media, too, participated in what had quickly become a major media event. Social media remembrance has become an expected part of the death of a celebrity or well-known figure. However, what stood out in the Twitter activity, in particular, was not only sombre remembrance but also many instances of what can be considered bad-taste humour. Particularly prominent were comparisons of Philip to zombies, often including images of him. We explore the ways in which Twitter reactions to Prince Philip’s death may highlight the monarchy as an outdated, presumably useless (yet undying)institution. The use of the zombie metaphor complicates the reading of these Tweets are merely offensive, as they are used to articulate resistance to royal power. We thus argue that the use of zombie metaphors in instances of bad taste, while considered offensive, may at the same time also offer a critique of the royal family as an institution at a particular moment in timeng and offer reflections on the ethics of researching controversial social media content.