Queen posts her first Instagram message: an image of an 1843 letter to Prince Albert
Monarch makes debut on social media site as she announces Science Museum’s new exhibition
WHEN the Queen was born in April 1926, the world’s most exciting new technology – the television – had been publicly demonstrated fewer than three months before.
Yesterday, Her Majesty witnessed the latest technological milestone first hand when she posted an image on Instagram for the first time.
She shared an 1843 letter from Charles Babbage, the 19th century inventor and mathematician, to Prince Albert on the official account for the Royal Family, as she announced a new exhibition at the Science Museum.
The Queen received warm applause when, with a simple touch of an ipad screen, her message was instantaneously sent to 4.6million followers on the social media site.
Her post read: “In the letter, Babbage told Queen Victoria and Prince Albert about his invention, the Analytical Engine, upon which the first computer programmes were created by Ada Lovelace, a daughter of Lord Byron.
“Today, I had the pleasure of learning about children’s computer coding initiatives and it seems fitting to me that I publish this Instagram post at the Science Museum, which has long championed technology, innovation and inspired the next generation of inventors.”
There can be little doubt that the Queen has witnessed more scientific and technological breakthroughs in her life than any monarch before; ranging from the discovery of penicillin to the birth of the internet.
The royals have often been quick to take advantage of these new mediums.
Television cameras were allowed inside Westminster Abbey in 1953 to film the Queen’s Coronation, and in 1976 she became the first monarch to send an email.
Her own website, www.royal.gov. uk, was launched in 1997 during a visit to Kingsbury High School in Brent, north-west London.
Before long, the Queen had even ventured onto social media – uploading a video on Youtube in 2008, and posting the first tweet in her own name in 2014.
However, it later emerged that a palace aide had in fact posted the tweet for her.
Sir Ian Blatchford, the Science Museum director, yesterday said it was a “nerve-racking moment” when she posted the picture on Instagram for the first time.
The “Top Secret” exhibition at the museum that she had unveiled will lift the lid on secrets of GCHQ, the government listening post, to coincide with its centenary year.
An Enigma machine has been lent to the museum by GCHQ to provide an insight into efforts to smash the Nazi code during the Second World War, along with the role played by Alan Turing and the codebreakers at Bletchley Park. Visitors will also be able to try their hand at code breaking challenges.
Sir Ian said the Queen compared the Enigma machine to today’s devices and “commented on the fact that you could see its rather cumbersome cogs – it is a very physical thing – whereas now a lot of modern technology is invisible but infinitely more powerful”.
He added that the royal visitor was particularly struck that the young children she met during the tour were “digitally native”. He said: “It is quite humbling that to them all this new technology is completely natural. They are totally fluent in it. They are very intuitive in the way they deal with it. I think that really amazes her.”
The exhibition officially opens in July 2019.
‘It seems fitting that I publish this Instagram post at the Science Museum’