After the announcement of the death of Her Majesty the Queen on 8 September 2022, The Poetry Society invited Society President Roger McGough to write a response to the unfolding news. The Poetry Society is very grateful to him for writing a personal and immediate reflection the same evening, as he began to process this great change in our national life.

The text of Roger McGough's poem God Rest the Queen is available here: https://poetrysociety.org.uk/poems/god-rest-the-queen. The poem was commissioned by The Poetry Society in response to the death of HM Queen Elizabeth II on 9 September 2022. You are welcome to reproduce the poem for non-commercial use. Just quote the credit line © 2022 Roger McGough, for The Poetry Society www.poetrysociety.org.uk. If you do use the poem in your community, we’d love to hear about it. (For commercial use, please contact [email protected])