konknaijaboy | On 24, Oct 2014

Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II sent her first ever tweet during a visit to a museum Friday, signing it “Elizabeth R” — and even removing a glove to post it.

The 88-year-old’s Twitter debut came during a visit to London’s Science Museum as she opened a new gallery dedicated to the history of communication and information.

The queen has gamely tried to keep up with new technologies during her 62-year reign.

She received a mobile phone as a present from her son Prince Andrew in 2001 and sent her first official email in 2009 but is reportedly bemused by her subjects’ requests for “selfies” on royal walkabouts.

“It is a pleasure to open the Information Age exhibition today at the @_ScienceMuseum and I hope people will enjoy visiting. Elizabeth R,” her first tweet from the official British Monarchy Twitter account read.

Another tweet on the same account shortly afterwards said that the previous one was “sent personally by The Queen”, adding its own hashtag for the event — #TheQueenTweets.

While news of her latest first spread rapidly on Twitter, the queen has not always taken to new technology with such ease.

The US ambassador to London, Matthew Barzun, said she told him she finds it “strange” to be confronted by people holding up mobile phones wanting to take pictures and selfies on royal visits.

“She was essentially saying: ‘I miss eye contact’,” Barzun told Tatler magazine last month.
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(Reuters) – Britain’s Queen Elizabeth made her first foray into the world of social media on Friday when she sent out her inaugural message on Twitter.

“It is a pleasure to open the Information Age exhibition today at the @sciencemuseum and I hope people will enjoy visiting. Elizabeth R,” the 88-year-old monarch tweeted at the opening of a new gallery at London’s Science Museum.

The message, sent at 10.35 GMT (6.35 a.m. EDT), had already been re-tweeted more than 4,000 times less than 45 minutes later.

The queen’s official Twitter account @BritishMonarchy, which is run by royal aides, has issued almost 19,000 messages since its inception in 2009 and has some 725,000 followers.

Source – REUTERS