Johnny Rotten: God save the Queen. No, really.

Ex-Sex Pistol John Lydon went by Johnny Rotten during the 1970s golden age of punk and famously gave angry, snarled voice to the era’s anti-monarchist sentiment with the band’s scabrous musical indictment “God Save the Queen.”

Times — and Johnny — have changed.

Today Lydon released a short and very sweet statement to honor Queen Elizabeth II, who died Thursday.

“Rest in Peace Queen Elizabeth II,” Lydon wrote on his website and in a tweet. “Send her victorious.” He accompanied the message with a classic Cecil Beaton portrait of the Queen, sans the safety pin piercing that became an iconic punk image.