The Queen has said she finds it "disconcerting" and "strange" when she is faced with a sea of people trying to take selfies with her. While Her Majesty has always been one to embrace modern technology, the implication was that the 88-year-old royal considered it bad manners for wellwishers to be looking at a screen when she made public appearances as a guest. She was having a "nice chat" with US ambassador Matthew Barzun when she confided in him.
© Photo: Getty ImagesThe implication was that the Queen found it bad manners to greet someone with a mobile phone
"She was essentially saying: 'I miss eye contact'," Matthew told Tatler magazine. The Queen has had a mobile phone since 2001, given to her by her son the Duke of York, who taught her how to use it. While she has never made a phone call on it in public, the reigning monarch is understood to use the device while she is outdoors at Balmoral and Sandringham Estate. Her grandsons Princes William and Harry also showed the Queen how to send and receive text messages. The mother-of-four, who also owns an iPod, and her husband Prince Philip are said to be very computer literate too.
© Photo: Getty ImagesThe Queen was given a mobile phone by her son Prince Andrew in 2001
Her Majesty has been known to unwillingly "photobomb" wellwishers' photos, as she accidentally walks into the background of people's snaps at high-profile events. The most recent incident was when she approached a group of Australian hockey players at the Commonwealth Games, and she was captured grinning from ear-to-ear in the shot. Prince William, meanwhile, has gamely indulged in the selfie trend. The Duke of Cambridge delighted a schoolgirl last winter when he posed for a selfie with her at Sandringham.
