The Queen has always been one to embrace modern technology but on Thursday she admitted that she sometimes needs a helping hand. The 90-year-old monarch was hosting a garden party at Buckingham Palace when she made the admission.
Speaking to one guest Barbara Wilkins, 82, at the alfresco do, the Queen said that she asks her grandchildren to show her how to use her computer. Her Majesty revealed that she often relies on the younger royals for help, but disapproved of them spending too much time on their phones.
"The Queen was talking to me about young children and asked me if they had changed a lot," said Barbara. "I said they are all digital these days and I said that instead of sitting at the dining room table having conversations like I did with my children they are all sitting on the settee with their teas on their knees watching television."
© Photo: Getty Images"She said her grandchildren did things for her digitally but she didn't like them to be on their phones all the time"
Barbara added: "She agreed. She said her grandchildren did things for her digitally but she didn't like them to be on their phones and computers all the time. She says they need social skills. She was like any other grandmother really.
"She didn't say exactly what her grandchildren did for her but she said she gets them to help her out and to do things for her. I have to say she has fantastic communication skills being able to talk to anybody about anything at any time."
© Photo: Getty ImagesThe Queen has admitted that she finds the selfie craze "disconcerting" and "strange"
This isn't the first time that the Queen has bemoaned the fact that the youth of today are glued to their devices. She even finds it "disconcerting" and "strange" when she is faced with a sea of people trying to take selfies with her during an engagement.
US ambassador Matthew Barzun had a "nice chat" with Her Majesty, who confided in him about modern technology.
The implication was that the monarch considered it "bad manners" for wellwishers to be looking at a screen when she made her public appearances. "She was essentially saying: 'I miss eye contact'," Matthew told Tatler magazine.
© Photo: Getty ImagesThe royal often asks her grandchildren for technological help
Despite her concerns, Her Majesty became somewhat of a social media sensation earlier this month when she appeared in a jokey video with Prince Harry for his Invictus Games. The good-natured royal was seen giving a smirk and saying "Oh, really?" after the Obamas "threatened" Team GB.
The Queen 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 monarch how to send and receive text messages.
While she has never made a phone call on it in public, the Queen, who also owns an iPod, is understood to use her phone while she is outdoors at Balmoral and Sandringham Estate.
