How Queen Elizabeth II Embraced Technology

As we mourn the loss of our beloved Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, there is no better time to look back on her history and the advancements made in tech during her time on the throne. Her 70-year reign has been marked as a period of notable cultural and technological change, development, and growth.

As a 14-year-old Princess, Elizabeth recognised the ways in which technology can be used to connect with a wider audience. Sitting down with her sister, Princess Margaret, she did her first radio broadcast in 1940, addressed to the children of the Commonwealth. This was aimed at providing comfort to those who had been evacuated during the Blitz and World War II. She remarked on how she knew that her generation, would come together ‘to make the world of tomorrow a better and happier place’.

She continued to express her keen interest in technology, by joining the Women’s Auxiliary Territorial Service. Here she trained and worked as a mechanic servicing and repairing vehicles on the home front. She went on to become the first member of the Royal Family to serve in the military full time, a signal of modern change.

Not afraid to break traditions, her Coronation in 1953 was the very first one to ever be fully televised for the entire nation to see. This allowed people to watch this unseen historic moment from the comfort of their own homes. In fact, many of the 27 million viewers in the UK had purchased their first television just so they could watch the Coronation. Marking the shift from radio to television in 1957, her Christmas message was recorded in colour, for the very first time. The Queen remarked on the significant role technology has made in allowing a much more ‘personal and direct’ touch to her words. This has since become a tradition in the UK for many families to gather together to watch the Queen’s Christmas message.

These are only some of the many ways in which she embraced television as a popular method to connect with the globe. The Queen opened her home to television cameras and created a documentary, Royal Family, in 1969. These television cameras offered viewers an in-depth, closer look at the private life of the Queen and the Royal Family. From showing the Queen in her office with the iconic red box, taking part in royal duties, State dinners, to the family watching television together, or enjoying a barbecue at the Balmoral Estate.

In times of difficulty, the Queen utilised television to bridge the gap between the Royal Family and the rest of the world. These recorded messages were nationally broadcasted and allowed her to connect with people, empathise, and express her own feelings. Happy or sad. The most notable of which was after the death of Princess Diana and the COVID-19 pandemic.

With the internet boom and arise of emails and social media, this became another popular medium that advanced during her time on the throne. In 2007, a dedicated Royal website was created where her speeches, Christmas broadcasts, and more can be viewed. What’s more, the Queen embraced social media, using it as a way to share any significant events, Royal duties, or messages. In 2014, she would send her very first tweet and in 2019 her first Instagram post, sharing a detailed letter between her great-great-grandfather and computing pioneer, Charles Babbage.

Along with this, her Majesty has used social media to show her quick wit and wonderful sense of humour. Taking part in a special video, with James Bond for the opening of the 2012 London Olympics. The director of ‘Happy and Glorious’, Danny Boyle, has revealed that originally the Queen was only asked if she would approve of James Bond meeting the Queen. The palace came back to him and said the Queen would love to play herself. What’s more, no dialogue was originally written for the Queen to say, all of her lines, she came up with herself. More recently, she starred in a film with Paddington Bear that was created as part of her Platinum Jubilee celebrations.

Her appreciation for technology resulted in a Royal Warrant being given to the manufacturer Samsung. Samsung is now the supplier of electronics and appliances to the Royal household. For her Diamond Jubilee, the Queen demonstrated her love and embrace of technology as a way to preserve the past. A Samsung Galaxy Note 10.0, with hundreds of recorded memories from her 60 years on the throne, was added to the Royal Collection.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Her Majesty famously said ‘we will meet again’ as the country found itself in lockdown. Setting an example to the rest of the country and unable to perform her traditional duties, the Queen turned to technology. Using video links and platforms such as Zoom, the Queen continued her role as head of State, performing virtual meetings from Windsor Castle. Demonstrating how, thanks to technology, the country could keep on working and moving forward during difficult times.

Whilst the Queen was a strong advocate of technology and its advancements during her time on the throne, she also emphasised the importance of the past as lessons for younger generations. However, thanks to the ways in which she utilised technology and modern advancements, her time on the throne has been encapsulated online. Serving as a digital time capsule of her reign, future generations can continue to learn from the lessons of the past.

I do not think that we should be over-anxious. We can make sense of the future – if we understand the lessons of the past.

The future is not only about new gadgets, modern technology, or the latest fashion, important as these may be. At the centre of our lives – today and tomorrow – must be the message of caring for others
Queen Elizabeth II, Christmas Message in 1999

Technological Advancements During Her Reign: A Timeline

1940s:

When she was Princess Elizabeth, she supported her country and worked as a mechanic in World War II, helping to service vehicles on the home front.

At the age of only 14, she gave her first radio broadcast. This took place in 1940 with her sister, Princess Margaret, to comfort the children of the Commonwealth who had been evacuated and moved away from home.

In April 1947, on her 21^st birthday, Princess Elizabeth gave a radio broadcast from Cape Town. This radio speech has become of her most well-known broadcasts, where she dedicated her life to service and the Commonwealth.

”I declare before you all that my whole life whether it be long or short, I shall be devoted to your service and the service of our great imperial family to which we all belong”.

1950s:

Her Coronation was celebrated on the 2^nd of June 1953. This was, in fact, the very first televised Coronation. 27 million in the UK watched the ceremony on television and 11 million chose to listen on the radio. A breakthrough in the history of television and broadcasting, more than 2,000 journalists were present at the Coronation.

Having been broadcast on radio for twenty-five years, on Christmas Day 1957, the first Christmas message was shown on television in black and white.

In December 1958, the Queen made the first trunk-call on the Bristol Telephone Exchange.

1960s:

During her Christmas message in 1962, the Queen made mention of the first communications satellite, Telstar 1, and emphasised the importance of technology.

In January 1967, the Queen opened a brand-new telescope at the Royal Greenwich Observatory.

The first colourised Christmas message was broadcasted in 1967.

In 1969, the Queen officially opened the Victoria Line on the London Underground. To inaugurate the line, she took the tube from Oxford Circus to Victoria Station.

In 1969, the Queen took part in a documentary, called Royal Family, which gave people a closer look at the private life of the monarchy and her family.

1970s:

The Queen sent her very first email using ARPANET in 1976, a military computer that was influential in the creation of the internet.

She was given a tour of the cabin of the prestigious Concorde in November 1977.

1980s:

Her majesty was taken on a tour around the Hewlett Packard (HP) factory in California in 1983.

1990s:

In 1997, the first Royal website was launched. The 1997 Christmas message was published on the internet for the first time that year.

In her 1999 Christmas message, after the birth of the World Wide Web, she remarked on the future and welcomed technology developments: ”As I look to the future, I have no doubt at all that the one certainty is change – and the pace of that change will only seem to increase”.

2000s:

In 2001, the Queen was taken on a tour of a news studio and shown how a green screen works with the presenter, Dermot Murnaghan.

Using a computer in 2002, she planted her first ‘virtual’ tree whilst on a visit to an Elementary School in Canda.

Her 2006 Christmas message was published as a podcast on the Royal website and was available to download on iTunes.

The British astronaut Mike Foale spoke to the Queen in 2007 via a video link from the International Space Station.

In 2008, the Queen took a tour around the YouTube headquarters where she uploaded a video to the Royal YouTube channel.

2010s:

During 2010, she visited a Blackberry factory in Canada where she watched a new phone being tested. She reportedly even had her own Blackberry.

On her Golden Jubilee, her 50^th anniversary on the throne, celebrations were broadcast in 3D for the very first time.

The Queen had a cameo in a special film with James Bond, ‘Happy and Glorious’, for the opening of the 2012 London Olympics.

On a visit to the Science Musuem in 2014, Her Majesty sent her very first tweet!

It is a pleasure to open the Information Age exhibition today at the @ScienceMuseum and I hope people will enjoy visiting. Elizabeth R.
— The Royal Family (@RoyalFamily) October 24, 2014

Similar to her Golden Jubilee, the 2014 Christmas message was broadcasted on television in 3D.

When visiting the Science Museum again in 2019, the Queen made her first Instagram post. Sharing an image of a letter between Prince Albert, her great-great-grandfather, and Charles Babbage, a pioneer in computers and technology.