Queen’s Elizabeth II’s dying after 70 years on the throne was introduced first on Twitter — from the Royal Household’s personal account.
Queen’s Elizabeth II’s dying after 70 years on the throne was introduced first on Twitter — from the Royal Household’s personal account.
A tweet stating the long-serving monarch had “died peacefully at Balmoral” was posted by @RoyalFamily at 6.30 p.m. native time, two minutes forward of the BBC’s personal announcement on the platform.
That Twitter was chosen because the preliminary vector for the information exhibits how a lot the household’s method to communication has morphed, particularly within the latter years of the Queen’s reign.
Recognized for his or her use of pomp and ceremony to bolster the ability of the monarchy, the Windsors have turn into savvy customers of social media, with King Charles III and his spouse Camilla, who is anticipated to tackle the title of Queen Consort, regulars on Twitter and Fb.
The tweet got here alongside a raft of extra conventional protocols surrounding the monarch’s dying, plans for which have been a intently guarded secret for many years.
A Guardian report in 2017 stated information of the Queen’s dying would first be relayed to the UK prime minister by way of the coded message “London Bridge is down,” earlier than an announcement made by way of a “newsflash to the Press Affiliation and the remainder of the world’s media concurrently.”
Retweeted greater than 650,000 instances and garnering greater than 2 million “likes,” the submit was simply step one in a rigorously choreographed 10-day mourning interval that can embrace the suspension of parliament, a public vacation and a state funeral at Westminster Abbey.