Queen Elizabeth has made her first Instagram post. The 92-year-old monarch took to the social media site for the first time to post a photograph of a letter from 19th-century mathematician and computer pioneer Charles Babbage to Prince Albert, Queen Victoria’s husband, as she visited London’s Science Museum on Thursday.
She wrote on the photo sharing site: “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. (sic)”
Queen Elizabeth – who is married to Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh – was also at the Science Museum when she posted her first tweet back in October 2014.
She wrote at the time: “It is a pleasure to open the Information Age exhibition today at the @ScienceMuseum and I hope people will enjoy visiting. Elizabeth R. (sic)”
Whilst the Science Museum responded in their own post: “@BritishMonarchy We’re honoured The Queen chose to open our Information Age gallery by sending her first tweet #smInfoAge #TheQueenTweets (sic)
Source: IOL
