The Queen first posted on Instagram in 2019
Lest she be accused of not being modern, Queen Elizabeth has an active presence on social media. She even published her first Instagram post last year at the Science Museum in London: tying the new medium together with the old, her post included a photo of an 1843 letter from the world’s first computer pioneer, Charles Babbage, to the Queen’s great-great-grandfather, Prince Albert (aka husband to Queen Victoria), who was very interested in scientific progress. “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,” she wrote, signing it ‘Elizabeth R.’ In 2014, the Queen also tweeted for the first time from the Science Museum.
She reads her fan mail
Yep, you can write snail mail to the Queen – and she will likely read it! According to her official website, she receives around 60 000 pieces of mail a year and is shown almost all of her daily correspondence. She ‘takes a keen interest’ in the letters she receives and might even write back, as she does for her subjects celebrating milestones such as turning 100 or celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary. If you’re writing to the Queen, “you can open with ‘Madam’ and close the letter with the form ‘I have the honour to be, Madam, Your Majesty’s humble and obedient servant,'” says her website. But you don’t need to do this: you can write however you feel comfortable. Her address is: Her Majesty The Queen, Buckingham Palace, London SW1A 1AA, England.
You don't have to bow to the Queen
If you should happen to meet the Queen, there are likewise no official rules for how you should greet her. ‘Many people ask how they should greet Her Majesty,’ her official website reads. The simple answer is that there are no obligatory codes of behaviour – just courtesy. However, many people wish to observe the traditional forms of greeting. For men this is a neck bow (from the head only) whilst women do a small curtsy. Other people prefer simply to shake hands in the usual way. You probably wouldn’t want to go in for a hug, though – that might be a bit too much – but we do wonder how she’d react to a fist bump.
Find out which are the times the royal family was brutally honest with the media.