In honor of Queen Elizabeth’s Diamond Jubilee, the Palace of Westminster announced on Tuesday that its Clock Tower, which houses the iconic Big Ben, will be renamed the Elizabeth Tower.
“The Commission welcomed the proposal to rename the Clock Tower Elizabeth Tower in recognition of HM The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, and would arrange for this decision to be implemented in an appropriate manner in due course,” according to parliamentary transcription.
Even though only the Clock Tower is being renamed, the change of name has stirred a slew of dissatisfactions among Big Ben loyalists in the Twitter community and generated parodies such as “Large Liz” and “Betty’s Bell Tower.”
“Apparently they’re renaming Big Ben to Elizabeth tower... I’m still calling it Big Ben,” London-based photographer Tom Leishman tweeted in a post that was retweeted 1,250 times.
“Can’t you just build a new tower for the queen? Renaming Big Ben makes as much sense as renaming the Eiffel Tower,” tweeted user @TooMuchPathos.
In response to the uproar in the Twitter sphere, British Prime Minister David Cameron came to the rescue. The prime minister’s official Twitter account posted, “PM on renaming of tower housing Big Ben to Elizabeth Tower: ‘a fitting recognition of The Queen’s sixty years of service.’”
The Epoch Times publishes in 35 countries and in 19 languages. Subscribe to our e-newsletter.
