The Queen surprised royal fans when she sent out her first ever tweet from her office's personal Twitter account, British Monarchy. The 88-year-old royal was opening a new gallery about communications revolutions at the Science Museum in London on Friday morning. Making her way to a tablet on a podium, The Queen typed out a message that she affectionately signed "Elizabeth R".
© Photo: Getty ImagesThe Queen's tweet gained almost 6,000 retweets in the first hour
"It is a pleasure to open the Information Age exhibition today at the @ScienceMuseum and I hope people will enjoy visiting. Elizabeth R," wrote The Queen. Her post sent the social media site into a frenzy, garnering over 3,200 retweets and 2,300 favourites in half an hour.
During her visit to the museum, The Queen was joined by her husband Prince Philip, who is also said to be very computer literate. She was also presented with a "technology" themed bouquet by a young girl and took time to tour the exhibition.
© Photo: Getty ImagesThe Queen was presented with a 'technology' themed bouquet
The Queen's Twitter account was set up in 2009 with the aim of delivering "updates, pictures and videos from Buckingham Palace about the work and activities of The Royal Family and the institution of Monarchy." It has since amassed 729,000 followers. "The last tweet was sent personally by The Queen from her official Twitter account @BritishMonarchy #TheQueenTweets," the following post from the page read.
Her Majesty has always been one to embrace modern technology and has been using a mobile phone since 2001, when her son the Duke of York gifted it to her and taught her how to use it. Her grandsons Princes William and Harry also showed the Queen how to send and receive text messages. While she has never made a phone call on it in public, the reigning monarch, who is also said to own an iPod, is understood to use her phone while she is outdoors at Balmoral and Sandringham Estate.
© Photo: Getty ImagesPrince Harry sent out his first ever tweet in May
The monarch is not the only royal who has used Twitter before. Last May, Harry sent his first ever tweet as he officially launched ticket sales for his Paralympic-style event, the Invictus Games. The Prince, who at the time was the most senior member of the royal family to use the site, wrote: "Hope everyone will get behind #invictusgames. Great opportunity to support and thank the men and women who have given so much. Harry." While taking his time to post the tweet, Invictus president Harry joked:
"This is why I joined the army, I can't type properly."
