Was There Really A Photo Of The Queen On A McDonald’s Kiosk?

After the tweet took off, Reuters found that the image had been altered. The original photo of the digital kiosk shows a green home ordering screen, not a picture of the queen with text saying “Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 1926-2022.” Further disproving the tribute, the photo of the kiosk first appeared in an article for a food and travel blog known as The Rare Welsh Bit in 2017, long before her passing. Fact-checkers at Reuters also spoke with a McDonald’s U.K. spokesperson who denied the photo’s authenticity. Although the kiosk tribute ended up being a fake, McDonald’s U.K. did write a tweet in homage to the late queen (via Twitter).

Surprisingly, the connection between the golden arches and Queen Elizabeth II goes way back. Although the queen’s favorite foods were classically British, per Reader’s Digest, that did not mean she wouldn’t occasionally enjoy a good burger and fries. The wearer of many crowns, the monarch was a fast-food store owner among the ruler of a nation. Queen Elizabeth owned her own McDonald’s in Oxfordshire.