John Lydon will "sorely miss" Queen Elizabeth if she was to die.
The 61-year-old musician – who is also known as Johnny Rotten – doesn’t want to sound too "ominous" but he wishes the 90-year-old royal longevity and hopes she will live for a long time because he doesn’t think "planet Earth" will be the same without her presence.
Speaking in a weekly podcast for The Quietus, the former lead singer of The Sex Pistols, said: "I would sorely miss her as a human being on planet Earth.
"It’s not her fault she was born into a gilded cage. Can I just correct this, just slightly? Because it’s important. ‘I will miss her’ sounds ominous and I don’t want that. Long may she live. I don’t know about the "reign" part, but long may she live."
And the artist has revealed he was taken aback by the extravagant royal ceremonies, especially the "pageantry" of the weddings, which he has likened to World War Two.
He explained: "I love all the pageantry, too. I loved that last wedding. Oh, when the planes flew over the palace? It reminded me of world war two and all those films, and how grim it was fighting Nazis. For me, it was a reintroduction to history, lest we forget."
Meanwhile, John has revealed the band’s 1977 single ‘God Save The Queen’ was created to address "obedience" to a hierarchical regime he didn’t believe in at the time.
Speaking about the track, which was previously banned by the BBC and Independent Broadcasting Authority, he said: "[It was] about a political situation and the demand for obedience to a monarchy I don’t believe in."
John Lydon: ‘I would sorely miss Queen Elizabeth as a human being on planet Earth’
