Queen publishes her first Instagram post — a letter sent to her great-great-grandfather Prince Albert by Charles Babbage
The Queen has decided to post her very first Instagram post, causing much excitement. While visiting the Science museum, the Queen formally opened the new Smith Centre as she shared archived pictures on the Royal Family Instagram account.
The account had been set up back in 2013 for the purpose of sharing images and information on the Royal Family including their work, family celebrations and anniversaries.
The account had also looked at inviting interaction from fans and followers from across the world. Currently, the account boasts around 4.5 million followers.
While navigating on an iPad screen, the Queen shared an image of a letter from 19th-Century inventor and mathematician Charles Babbage to Prince Albert.
Babbage had written the letter to Albert in the year 1843 about his 'Analytical Engine' which was a machine which had the capability to perform calculations using punch cards. The machine also featured a memory unit which was used to store numbers. While she stood at the Science Museum's new Smith Centre, people applauded as the Queen shared the post on social media.
The image was captioned, "Today, as I visit the Science Museum I was interested to discover a letter from the Royal Archives, written in 1843 to my great-great-grandfather Prince Albert. Charles Babbage, credited as the world’s first computer pioneer, designed the "Difference Engine", of which Prince Albert had the opportunity to see a prototype in July 1843. 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. Elizabeth R," the caption read.
Today, The Queen has published her first @instagram post on The Royal Family's Instagram channel, to celebrate a visit to the @sciencemuseum
— The Royal Family (@RoyalFamily) March 7, 2019
Take a look here https://t.co/fwQKuMiH4H pic.twitter.com/EozHCjqalx
While on her visit to the museum, the Queen also had the chance to observe the iconic and milestone communications objects throughout history. This included an enigma machine which is the computer on which the World Wide Web was created.
Her Majesty views the computer on which @timberners_lee created the World Wide Web as well as items featured in @sciencemuseum’s new major exhibition: Top Secret, in collaboration with @GCHQ pic.twitter.com/cxgRiM5IIW
— The Royal Family (@RoyalFamily) March 7, 2019
Queen Elizabeth II has always supported digital communications tools and back in 2014, she sent out her first tweet during her last visit to the museum.
In 1997, the Queen decided to launch the first British Monarchy web site. She sent out her very first email in 1976 which proves that the Queen has had a long association and love for digital communications tools and technology.
