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The Queen Joins Facebook 155

H3xx writes "The Queen is set to have an official presence on Facebook when a British Monarchy page launches on the internet-based social networking site. Buckingham Palace says it is not a personal profile page, but users can 'like' the service and receive updates on their news feed. The Queen has reportedly embraced the web and sends e-mails. A British Monarchy Twitter feed is also available. The Facebook page is due to go live from Monday morning. The page will also feature the Court Circular, recording the previous day's official engagements."
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The Queen Joins Facebook

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  • by Jeremiah Cornelius ( 137 ) on Sunday November 07, 2010 @03:30PM (#34156612) Homepage Journal

    'Cos there's LOTS of Brit Queens on Facebook.

  • Maybe she can join my group.
  • News for Nerds (Score:1, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward

    Can slashdot stop posting every bit of minutiae that involves Facebook? This story isn't newsworthy in any respect, and has not relevance to "news for nerds".

    This isn't stuff that matters. Please stay in your lane slashdot.

  • Age (Score:2, Informative)

    by entotre ( 1929174 )
    The Queen is 84 years old, in case you were wondering :)
    • And her mother lived to over 100. Poor Charles.

      • Re:Age (Score:5, Funny)

        by Pharmboy ( 216950 ) on Sunday November 07, 2010 @08:43PM (#34158248) Journal

        And her mother lived to over 100. Poor Charles.

        I was thinking poor Camilla. Can you imagine having a mother-in-law that may live to be 100, and not only THINKS she's the frickin' Queen of England, but actually IS the frickin' Queen of England. Oh, and don't forget, when mum-in-law says "You aren't good enough for my boy", it's based on centuries of tradition and unwritten law. Gotta be some awkward family meals on Sundays around that place.

    • Re: (Score:2, Funny)

      by couchslug ( 175151 )

      "The Queen is 84 years old, in case you were wondering :)"

      So is Facebook. (Yawn.)

      Let us know when she posts on 4chan. :)

  • by ysth ( 1368415 ) on Sunday November 07, 2010 @03:37PM (#34156668)
    Can the Queen of Canada be far behind?
    • Re: (Score:1, Redundant)

      Pretty much immediately I would say.

    • by AK Marc ( 707885 )
      Is there any list of titles she holds? She is the queen of many things, the head a large number of organizations, and for someone that wasn't raised under a monarchy, it all seems very confusing.

      And how many of those positions immediately pass to her successor? Most? All?
      • by Hope Thelps ( 322083 ) on Sunday November 07, 2010 @04:37PM (#34156982)

        Is there any list of titles she holds? She is the queen of many things, the head a large number of organizations, and for someone that wasn't raised under a monarchy, it all seems very confusing.

        http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_titles_and_honours_of_Queen_Elizabeth_II [wikipedia.org]

        • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

          by 16Chapel ( 998683 )
          Obvservant slashdotters may notice a country missing from that list: England.

          She is not the queen of England, there is no Queen of England, hasn't been since the Act of Union in 1707.
          • And yet this article is tagged with 'England'....
          • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

            by tehcyder ( 746570 )
            Well, OK then she's also not separately Queen of Scotland, London, the river Trent or my garden shed. I don't see your point, they're all in the UK.
            • by dave420 ( 699308 )
              IT'S POLITICAL CORRECTNESS GONE MAD, I TELL YA! That was probably his point - that the white English folks can't be proud of being white English, and somehow England is being marginalised. Or some such shit. If I'm wrong, I apologise.
      • If Wikipedia is correct, she is currently Queen of Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Canada, Grenada, Jamaica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Guernsey, the Isle of Man, Jersey, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, and Tuvalu. She is also an Admiral of Nebraska, but that's not really important. The Monarchy will pass to Charles; I could find nothing of countries planning to end the monarchy when Elizabeth d

        • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

          by jonbryce ( 703250 )

          She is the Duchess of Normany, which covers Jersey. They aren't big enough to have a queen.

        • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

          The Monarchy will pass to Charles; I could find nothing of countries planning to end the monarchy when Elizabeth dies.

          There is an unofficial agreement between all Commonwealth states that, even though their respective succession laws can be changed by them unilaterally, they will not do so without the consent of all member states, with the sole exception of one of the members abolishing monarchy (since that doesn't affect others). This ensures that for members which are monarchies, the heads of the state will always remain "in sync".

          • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

            by cthugha ( 185672 )
            It's not so much unofficial: it's expressly incorporated into the preamble of the Statute of Westminster [wikipedia.org]. Now, whether that's legally enforceable has never been tested.
            • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

              by Chrisq ( 894406 )

              It's not so much unofficial: it's expressly incorporated into the preamble of the Statute of Westminster [wikipedia.org]. Now, whether that's legally enforceable has never been tested.

              You could quite easily get into logical knots, if teh Queen is monarch she could use the royal prerogative to instruct the government to enforce it - which would mean that she would be monarch and have the power....

        • by Chrisq ( 894406 )

          If Wikipedia is correct, she is currently Queen of Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Canada, Grenada, Jamaica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Guernsey, the Isle of Man, Jersey, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, and Tuvalu. She is also an Admiral of Nebraska, but that's not really important. The Monarchy will pass to Charles; I could find nothing of countries planning to end the monarchy when Elizabeth dies.

          Can we expect a queen.tv domain then?

      • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

        by Anonymous Coward

        she

        That's Her Majesty Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God, of Great Britain, Ireland and the British Dominions beyond the Seas Queen, Defender of the Faith, Duchess of Edinburgh, Countess of Merioneth, Baroness Greenwich, Duke of Lancaster, Lord of Mann, Duke of Normandy, Sovereign of the Most Honourable Order of the Garter, Sovereign of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath, Sovereign of the Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of the Thistle, Sovereign of the Most Illustrious Order of Saint Patrick, Sover

      • by matfud ( 464184 )

        Our queen is the queen. It does not meen that much anymore. She can block any law but if she did parliment would throw her out. So yes she has power but cannot use it. Such is the state of the UK.

        • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

          by Chrisq ( 894406 )

          Our queen is the queen. It does not meen that much anymore. She can block any law but if she did parliment would throw her out. So yes she has power but cannot use it. Such is the state of the UK.

          The problem with an unwritten constitution is that since it has not happened (at least since Oliver Cromwell) nobody knows if and how they government could throw her out. There is more historical precedence to say that the Queen could dismiss her parliament and take direct rule. If it comes down to it the armed forces and police swear allegiance to the Queen. I believe that all the Government has to defend against them is the serjeant at arms [wikipedia.org], who would not last long against the combined forces!

          • If it comes down to it the armed forces and police swear allegiance to the Queen. I believe that all the Government has to defend against them is the serjeant at arms [wikipedia.org], who would not last long against the combined forces!.

            I really, really hope you're joking

          • by matfud ( 464184 )

            Yes it is her government. She has to recognise it but it is not beholden to her. In theory she has ultimate power but in reallity she can't use it.

          • by matfud ( 464184 )

            I would like to see that. The sergent at arms is normally over 60 and I don't think a sword would help much.

          • by matfud ( 464184 )

            Mind you I think it is still possible for her to disband the government I love living in this monarchy. Some of the laws are so old. I just had to look up some of them.

    • My Canada includes Queens.... uhhhh.
    • ...but Trudeau's dead...

  • I remember this, straight out of A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. Let me guess, "On Monday, the queen rode in the park..."
  • Ladies and gentlemen, I am not simply going to say 'and now for something completely different' this week, as I do not think it fit.
    This is a particularly auspicious occasion for us this evening, as we have been told that Her Majesty the Queen will be watching part of the show tonight.
    We don't know exactly when Her Majesty will be tuning in. We understand that at the moment she is watching 'The Virginian', but we have been promised that we will be informed the moment that she changes channel.
    Her majesty would like everyone to behave quite normally but her equerry has asked me to request all of you at home to stand when the great moment arrives, although we here in the studio will be carrying on with our humorous vignettes and spoofs in the ordinary way. Thank you.
    And now without any more ado and completely as normal, here are the opening titles.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSaZ45ow3Q0 [youtube.com]

  • That I'm not the guy that came up with the idea to sue facebook today.
  • We are not amused.
  • So? (Score:2, Insightful)

    by i_ate_god ( 899684 )

    So?

    • by fizzup ( 788545 )

      So, this marks the midpoint of Facebook's life. It's another bit of proof that facebook isn't cool.

  • "OMG! This video of Camilla Parker-Bowles is the funniest thing I've ever seen. Just click the 'Like' button, then the button after that and the one after that to see it."
  • by Xtifr ( 1323 ) on Sunday November 07, 2010 @04:04PM (#34156786) Homepage

    It's not like the royal family has any privacy left anyway, so, unlike the rest of us, there's no real reason for her not to join facebook! :)

  • The first person to hack the queen's facebook will receive a royal slap across the cheeks and a jolly telling-off.

    Although I agree - this has absolutely fucking nothing to do with news for nerds.'zomg wow the queen has embraced the web and sends emails!!' no shit, you think she wouldn't use email? This kind of journalism is offensive to the queen if anything.

    But saying that - why bother having a queen at all? Just keep sending taxes to one family so they can live it up, for no good reason.
  • She doesn't even know how her privacy will completely gone once she plays Farmville.

    Not to mention, she'll never be able to delete her Facebook account. She should have gone onto MySpace using an AOL account.

    Maybe it's not too late to get her GeoCities page into that 80gig archive file on bit torrent.

  • by bkmoore ( 1910118 ) on Sunday November 07, 2010 @04:11PM (#34156826)
    Now that the Queen of England is on FaceBook, will FaceBook be adopting the Royal Seal as the "Official Social Networking Site" of the Royal Court? I think its on Twinings Tea and Hoover Vacuum Cleaners use the seal.
    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by ickoonite ( 639305 )
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Warrant [wikipedia.org]

      By appointment to HRH Queen Elizabeth II
      Facebook UK Limited
      Social Networking Services

      ...or something along those lines.
    • by Kjella ( 173770 )

      Royal Warrants are only awarded to tradesmen. The professions, employment agencies, party planners, the media, government departments, and "places of refreshment or entertainment" (such as pubs and theatres) do not qualify.

      I doubt Facebook qualifies as a tradesman. Facebook instead seems to qualify on several of the excluded categories like party planners and "places of entertainment". If you got the Queen an iPhone that might qualify though.

      • Royal Warrants are only awarded to tradesmen. The professions, employment agencies, party planners, the media, government departments, and "places of refreshment or entertainment" (such as pubs and theatres) do not qualify.

        I doubt Facebook qualifies as a tradesman. Facebook instead seems to qualify on several of the excluded categories like party planners and "places of entertainment". If you got the Queen an iPhone that might qualify though.

        Looking it up on the list, you would be late: she apparently already gets her iPhones from Carphone Warehouse...

  • Quick! (Score:3, Funny)

    by Greyfox ( 87712 ) on Sunday November 07, 2010 @04:13PM (#34156842) Homepage Journal
    Everyone friend her and go "Hellllllooooooo!"
    • Introduce her to some memes.

      "All your Profile are belong to us!"
      "I herd u leik rulin countrees..."
      "Y HALO THAR [posting from work]"
      "Hey, click this link! [Rickroll]"
      "Hey, click this link! [Goatse]"
      "Hey, click this link! [Lemonparty]" - Make a joke about Philip
      "Hey, click this link! [Link to own profile, click many times. Laugh privately]

      She has no idea what she's in for.
    • I've always wanted to poke Royalty. Now's my chance!

  • Looking forward to live tweets from their teaparties. I hear they're quite a "good show".
  • http://www.youtube.com/theroyalchannel [youtube.com]

    I particularly enjoyed watching some of the historical footage.

  • Meanwhile, the 'Queen' that matters has had a Facebook page for ages. [facebook.com]

    • Many Britons will probably take offense to this (perhaps including the surviving members of the aforementioned band - ironic, huh?), but in a way, really good artists/entertainers seem more productive/valuable than the figurehead royalty of a constitutional monarchy.

      • Maybe, but I meant no offense to any citizen of the UK or the Commonwealth. I just wanted to point out that many more people care about the band than about the Royal Family ;)

        "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal..."

        • by socsoc ( 1116769 )
          And most people in the world don't give a fuck about either.
        • I'm not a Brit either...what I meant with that comment is that the Queen's importance seems mainly sentimental to some who are.

          Granted, while I stand by my comment about the band, I'd rather have a dignified stateswoman than celebrity trash such as Paris Hilton.

          However, does justified admiration for the person's work justify the stupidities of celebrity obsession?

  • Buckingham booty call! I would so do her!
  • I wonder if we will get to see those selfies of the queen i have dreamed about so long...
  • Hey it is about time
  • Just saw the movie yesterday. What times we live in. Zuckerberg will ROFLOL.
  • She's a good sheila and not at all stuck up.

  • I hope this goes better than her last forray into new media:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IloIoGj5Mj0 [youtube.com]

  • Another good example of why Facebook should get rid of poking...

Pascal is not a high-level language. -- Steven Feiner

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