What is Lonely Theresa May?

It is a 2017 image macro built from a Getty photo of UK Prime Minister Theresa May sitting alone with her head down at an EU summit table in Brussels[1].

Where did Lonely Theresa May come from?

The source photo was taken on October 20, 2017 by Getty photographer Geert Vanden Wijngaert, and the meme took off after Owen Jones tweeted it with the caption 'Hello darkness my old friend'[4].

What does Lonely Theresa May mean?

The image is used to project isolation, sadness, or Brexit-era awkwardness, and doubles as political commentary on the UK's difficult EU negotiations[2].

How do you use Lonely Theresa May?

Users typically caption the photo with lonely song lyrics, breakup jokes, or ghosted-at-a-meeting punchlines, or Photoshop objects onto her end of the table[6].

Is Lonely Theresa May still popular?

It is a classic Brexit-era image macro; heavy captioning wound down within days but the picture is still recognized as one of the defining political memes of 2017[7].

Lonely Theresa May

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Published September 5, 2026

On October 20, 2017, a Getty photograph of British Prime Minister Theresa May sitting alone at a European Council table with her head down went viral as a captioned image macro. Twitter users spent the weekend layering sad song lyrics and Brexit jokes over the frame, most memorably 'Hello darkness my old friend,' turning the shot into a signature political meme of the Brexit era.

political satire memes british memes viral photo memes photoshop memes 2017 memes

Overview

Lonely Theresa May is built around one wide-angle press image: the British Prime Minister slumped at one end of a long conference table in Brussels, hair falling forward, with no one in the seat next to her1. The empty chairs did most of the comedic work, letting captioners read isolation, defeat, or Brexit-era awkwardness into the frame7.

Most edits paired the photograph with lyrics from sad songs, breakup jokes about being ghosted, or Photoshop remixes that dropped her into unrelated scenes6. Because the setting was a real EU summit, the picture also worked as blunt political commentary on the UK's fraught negotiations with Brussels2.

Origin & Background

Platform

Getty Images (source photo) / Twitter (viral spread)

Creator

Geert Vanden Wijngaert; @OwenJones84

Date

2017

On October 20, 2017, Getty Images photographer Geert Vanden Wijngaert captured Theresa May waiting for European Council President Donald Tusk at the European Leaders Summit in Brussels1. The wire image ran on the Associated Press and appeared in UK outlets including The Independent3.

Later that day, Guardian columnist Owen Jones posted the picture on Twitter with the caption 'Hello darkness my old friend,' quoting the Simon and Garfunkel lyric. The tweet pulled in more than 1,400 retweets and 4,800 likes within twelve hours4.

How It Spread

Jones's tweet kicked off a weekend of captioning across Twitter, where users piled on sad lyrics, left-on-read jokes, and Brexit punchlines. Twitter's own editorial team put together a Moments page collecting the most shared versions5.

On Reddit, user deceive_defy posted the picture to r/photoshopbattles the same day, prompting edits that placed May next to other lonely figures or dropped strange objects onto her table6. By October 22, 2017, mainstream outlets had picked up the story: TIME wrote about how the internet jumped on the image2, Junkee called it the saddest political meme of the moment8, and the Irish Examiner labeled it the 'meme of the moment'9. SBS News in Australia10 and the South China Morning Post11 both reported on the picture going viral internationally.

How to Use This Meme

The template works with any caption suggesting isolation, rejection, or quiet despair. Common conventions include pairing the image with lonely song lyrics ('Hello darkness my old friend' being the canonical example), text about being left on read, or captions framing May as the punchline in an office no-show joke. Photoshop versions typically add absurd objects onto her end of the table.

Frequently Asked Questions

References (11)