30 Most Awkward Magazine Covers That Will Leave You Cringing

Death Threats to the Queen

Der Spiegel is an esteemed German magazine known for its insightful journalism. It seems they had an unfortunate mix-up when it came to their biographical story on Queen Elizabeth II. While the intention was to honor her with a cover feature, things took an amusing turn due to a linguistic hiccup.

In German, "die" means "the," so the magazine's intent was to simply say "The Queen" with their headline "Die Queen." However, here's where the confusion arises: in German, the word for "Queen" is actually "Königin." So there we have it, a magazine cover that unintentionally created some linguistic comedy. It's like a game of language roulette where "Die Queen" could be interpreted as "The Queen" or "The Die Queen." If only they had kept the language consistent, this whole situation could have been avoided.