Queen Elizabeth II Publishes First Instagram Post

Queen Elizabeth II has become the latest royal member to join photo-sharing platform Instagram by publishing a photo during her visit to London's Science Museum.

Buckingham Palace tweeted a photo of the Queen publishing her first Instagram post from the Smith Centre. The monarch posted two images to the royal family's account of a letter written by Charles Babbage. The letter was written by the "first computer pioneer" to Prince Albert in 1942. The Queen made the post from an iPad to the official Royal Family Instagram account, which has 4.6 million followers.

The Queen had visited the Kensington Museum to announce a new exhibition about Britain's use of technology in matters of national security. The exhibition is called, "Top Secret: From Ciphers to Cyber Security." The Instagram post had a caption from the Queen where she talked about the invention of the analytical engine, which helped create write the first computer programmes.

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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. PHOTOS: Supplied by the Royal Archives © Royal Collection Trust / Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2019

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"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 post read.

The Queen's grandfather King George V had officially opened the Science Museum in 1928. This is not the Queen's first foray into social media. She had tweeted when she unveiled the museum's Information Art Gallery in 2014.

In fact, the Queen has embraced technology throughout her reign. From televising the first coronation ceremony in 1953 to sending her first email in 1976. She has always been up there keeping up with the trends.

She had even recorded her annual Christmas message in 2012. She had also visited the headquarters of Google with Prince Philip.