Queen Elizabeth II doesn't maintain much of a social media presence, though there are official accounts on most platforms for the royal family as a whole.
She isn't a complete stranger to the internet, though: she sent her first tweet back in 2014, and tweeted again after her 90th birthday celebrations in 2016.
And now Her Majesty the Queen made her first post to Instagram today, while visiting The Science Museum in London:
"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."
Her post included photos of the letter she referenced.
Did you notice the use of "I" instead of the customary royal "we"?
Several people thanked Queen Elizabeth for sharing this bit of history.
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Some exclaimed at the thought of the 92-year-old monarch using modern technology to share information about older technology that pre-dated her grandparents.
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The royal family has accounts across most social media platforms including Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.
Due to recent online abuse, the royal family have recently released guidelines for those who want to engage with them on social media.
"Comments must not:
Contain spam, be defamatory of any person, deceive others, be obscene, offensive, threatening, abusive, hateful, inflammatory or promote sexually explicit material or violence.
Promote discrimination based on race, sex, religion, nationality, disability, sexual orientation or age."
"Breach any of the terms of any of the social media platforms themselves.
Be off-topic, irrelevant or unintelligible.
Contain any advertising or promote any services."
The guidelines include a procedure for dealing with people who violate them.
"We reserve the right to determine, at our discretion, whether contributions to our social media channels breach our guidelines. We reserve the right to hide or delete comments made on our channels, as well as block users who do not follow these guidelines."
"We also reserve the right to send any comments we deem appropriate to law enforcement authorities for investigation as we feel necessary or is required by law."
It is fitting that Queen Elizabeth's first post on Instagram was about the history of computers.
We can only hope that she will share more with us in the future!
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