Royals on social media

The stories and photos that the Royal houses of Europe post to their official social media channels are the regal highlights of their week. Here's how the kings and queens and princes and princesses of the continent shared their stories in the week just gone.

We weren't expecting that

His dad has been a celebrated environmentalist for decades and his big brother has recently had a high profile launching his United for Wildlife campaign but this week it was the turn of Prince Harry to love nature. His surprise engagement this week involved finding out about the protection of red squirrels in Northumberland and there were plenty of images to see on the official Kensington Palace Instagram account.

No one expected Queen Mathilde of the Belgians to arrive at an engagement at the EU Parliament in Brussels sporting a brace on her leg but the images shared by the official Twitter account showed the consort laughing off her injury.

Rencontre avec les membres de la Commission européenne @EU_Commission pic.twitter.com/n9ER5JxD3f
— Belgian Royal Palace (@MonarchieBe) February 25, 2015

King Felipe of Spain visited a fruit protection company in the week and suprised everyone by swapping his usual grey suit for a white coat as he toured the factory - the photos were posted on the official Twitter account.

El Rey visita la empresa Tecnidex en Paterna (Valencia) http://t.co/BFeLElHAEf @magramagob @gva_info @aytoPaterna pic.twitter.com/Fx26ttjIsh
— Casa de S.M. el Rey (@CasaReal) February 27, 2015

Far from home

The Duke of Cambridge headed to Japan at the start of week long tour which will also take him to China. His engagements included a visit to the country's public service broadcaster, NHK, leading to a rather unusual royal snap being shared on the official Kensington Palace Instagram account.

The Duke of Cambridge arrives at NHK - Japan's public service broadcaster. The company's origins go back over 90 years to the Great Kanto earthquake in 1923.

A photo posted by Kensington Palace (@kensingtonroyal) on Feb 28, 2015 at 12:19am PST

King Juan Carlos of Spain headed to Uruguay for the inauguration of the country's new president, Tabare Vazquez. The official Twitter account, Casa Real, published plenty of images of the king's visit.

Don Juan Carlos felicitó al nuevo presidente de Uruguay, Tabaré Vázquez @Presidencia_uy http://t.co/ZHOvkmtJUn pic.twitter.com/Q8359fMC2W
— Casa de S.M. el Rey (@CasaReal) March 1, 2015

King Harald and Queen Sonja of Norway travelled to Australia for the first State Visit by a head of state of their country. There were lots of images shared on the official Facebook page of the Norwegian Royal Family including one of the couple on a visit celebrating nature and the environment.

The last days of winter

As winter entered its final furlong, there was a poignant photo call for the Royal Family of the Netherlands as King Willem-Alexander, Queen Maxima and their daughters joined Princess Beatrix to pose for snaps on their ski-ing holiday in Lech. The king's brother, John Friso, died in August 2013 - eighteen months after being hit by an avalanche at the resort. The family shared images on the official Twitter account.

Koning Willem-Alexander, Koningin Máxima, hun dochters en Prinses Beatrix poseren voor de media in #Lech. pic.twitter.com/t74xcqByPc
— Koninklijk Huis (@koninklijkhuis) February 23, 2015

The future queen of Sweden celebated her third birthday on February 23rd. And to mark the occasion, the Royal House shared photos of Princess Estelle ski-ing on its official Facebook page.

And Norway's future queen, Ingrid Alexandra, was wishing everyone a happy winter holiday in a message shared on the official Twitter account of her parents, the Crown Prince and Princess.

Deilig på fjellet! Håper mange av dere får en fin tur i naturen i løpet av vinterferien. #FÅ2015 #familietid #utpåtur pic.twitter.com/C5Woj1FGbz
— Det kongelige hoff (@Kronprinsparet) February 20, 2015