New Zealand Petitions to trade British Empire for Seven Kingdoms

We knew that with the casting of national celebrity Keisha Castle-Hughes, the island nation of New Zealand had gone a bit Game of Thrones crazy. (No other country got a dedicated month long pop up channel that ran nothing but Game of Thrones episodes and specials 24-7.) But I certainly didn’t expect a petition to change their head of state from Elizabeth II to Whoever’s Sitting on The Iron Throne This Week.

And yet, here it is! A petition to change over to a brand new monarchy, as part of SKY New Zealand’s over the top marketing campaign for the show’s return on Sunday/Monday.

Not that I’m unimpressed with their dedication, but I would question the wisdom of pledging their allegiance to such an unstable leader. After all, Elizabeth II has ruled as head of state for over 50 years, and she has a solid line of succession cheerfully procreating away behind her. She is so dedicated to her own rule that she would not even risk it to test the Iron Throne for herself, lest it cause a constitutional crisis. Meanwhile, the current occupant of the Iron Throne is a boy of questionable parentage who hasn’t even reached puberty and whose grandfather was just murdered by his evil imp uncle (according to the Westerosi tabloids anyway). Now if there were a member of the solid Targaryen line on the throne, this might be understandable. But with Stannis still out there, and Winter on the way, perhaps New Zealand shouldn’t do anything rash just quite yet.

• Published on 04/08/2015 at 9:30 AM CDT
• Last updated on 04/08/2015 at 9:30 AM CDT