Wednesday 22 June 2016

A royal tweet treat


A birthday like no other - and it all ended with a tweet
(photo BBC TV still)

There are millions of messages sent on Twitter every day but not many are signed Elizabeth R. That regal name was placed in a most modern manner at the end of a message of thanks from the Queen in a tweet sent by Elizabeth II herself. And it immediately won a place in the history books, a digital document to add to the pantheon of parchment and paper that has been signed by monarchs in centuries past. This is the queen of tweets.





The Queen sent the message to thank those who had wished her well using digital communications during her 90th birthday celebrations. Even Elizabeth II has to keep to 140 character limits on Twitter so the message was simple, to the point and every bit as elegant as we would expect.  The Queen said she was 'most grateful for the many digital messages of goodwill' and added she 'would like to thank you all for your kindness'.





It's not the first time that the Queen has tweeted - in October 2014, she sent a message from the official Royal Family Twitter account as she opened a new exhibition at the Science Museum in London which she launched into the Twittersphere in front of an audience of millions. But this one is a truly personal message from the Queen, another way in which her historic birthday has written it own chapter in the royal story. The royal born in an age before television now says thank you using social media. 






The Queen has seen many changes in her long reign and her sixty three years and counting as Monarch have been witness to alterations that many would never have thought imaginable when Elizabeth took the throne. Her refusal to live in the royal past is perhaps one reason why her rule has been so successful and now she adds another chapter to it with 140 characters or less sent in the bat of an eyelid. There were millions of messages sent on Twitter yesterday but this one is, and will remain, the queen of tweets.

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