From the Archives: The problem with royal tweets? Commoners respond

Reporting from London —  Queen Elizabeth II’s first tweet garnered a sizable response, receiving over 40,000 retweets and more than 40,000 favorites.

Most of those responding welcomed Her Majesty to the social network. But not everyone was pleased.

“F--- off,” read one message that the BBC inadvertently broadcast live on television while presenting reaction to the queen’s post.

The queen sent her tweet Friday while attending the opening of an exhibit about changes in communication technology at London’s Science Museum.

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Removing one of her trademark white gloves, she pressed the screen on a tablet computer to send the message, which read: “It is a pleasure to open the Information Age exhibition today at the @ScienceMuseum and I hope people will enjoy visiting.” It was signed Elizabeth R. (The “R’ stands for “Regina,” Latin for queen.)

The tweet was sent from the British monarchy’s official Twitter account @BritishMonarchy, which is typically managed by a public relations staff, and appeared to have been typed in advance. Another message confirmed: “The last tweet was sent personally by The Queen from her official Twitter account.”

Although the queen was seen to be using a tablet, the Associated Press reported that the tweet appeared to have been sent using Twitter’s iPhone app. “We’re not going to go into the details,” a Buckingham Palace spokesperson told the AP.

The responses poured in.

“When will your selfie be, please your highness?” asked @Ed_Ram.

Others used the opportunity to voice objections to the monarchy. @Alexhern encouraged the queen to abdicate.

@Queen_UK, a spoof account under the name Elizabeth Windsor that’s been running since May 2010, responded with mild indignation: “First tweet?! One’s been tweeting for sodding years dear.”

“Can’t believe someone’s started a sodding parody account,” read a follow-up message.

@RobDotUk mused, “Wonder how many journos will be trawling these replies to cut n paste some ‘fun’ filler in the subsequent articles on this.”

Guilty.

Werth is a special correspondent.

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