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."
She's a bit late to the party, (Score:4, Funny)
'Cos there's LOTS of Brit Queens on Facebook.
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She is already on twitter @Queen_UK [twitter.com]. Okay, that's not her, but a sock puppet.
However, she is was not 'late to the party' in sending e-mails. She sent her first e-mail in 1976 [itpro.co.uk].
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Great!!!! (Score:1)
Re:Great!!!! (Score:4, Informative)
News for Nerds (Score:1, Insightful)
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)
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And her mother lived to over 100. Poor Charles.
Re:Age (Score:5, Funny)
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.
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"The Queen is 84 years old, in case you were wondering :)"
So is Facebook. (Yawn.)
Let us know when she posts on 4chan. :)
Facebook pages for roles, not people? (Score:4, Funny)
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Pretty much immediately I would say.
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And how many of those positions immediately pass to her successor? Most? All?
Re:Facebook pages for roles, not people? (Score:5, Informative)
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]
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She is not the queen of England, there is no Queen of England, hasn't been since the Act of Union in 1707.
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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
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She is the Duchess of Normany, which covers Jersey. They aren't big enough to have a queen.
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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".
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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....
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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?
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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
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or, Mrs. Mountbatten, if you prefer.
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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.
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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!
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I really, really hope you're joking
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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.
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I would like to see that. The sergent at arms is normally over 60 and I don't think a sword would help much.
Currently its a she (Score:2)
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Can I stop laughing now? You have nicely summed up the briish government.
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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.
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...but Trudeau's dead...
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There are a lot of places that still have Elizabeth as the queen. I think most have just not got around to getting rid of the colonial ties. Why on earth does Canada still have a governer general?
COURT CIRCULAR (Score:2)
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Ladies and gentlemen, (Score:2)
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]
I am so happy. (Score:2)
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Meh. (Score:1)
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"G-d bless our queer old dean" - some albino guy
William Archibald Spooner - some Albian guy. It was a reference to Queen Victoria, "Our Dear Old Queen."
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That's Reverend Spooner to you, young element.
My bad.
So? (Score:2, Insightful)
So?
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So, this marks the midpoint of Facebook's life. It's another bit of proof that facebook isn't cool.
The Queen's first post (Score:2)
It's not like the royal family has any privacy! (Score:5, Insightful)
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! :)
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This could become a revenue stream for facebook.. The leaking of royalty's hidden profile pictures to tabloids
So you are thinking that the Queen will post pics of herself bikini clad, but only for her friends, and Facebook will just leak those photos for profit? You do realize there is no "Step 2.", but more importantly, no "Step 1." in your plan to "Step 3. Profit!"?
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Better luck next attempt ;)
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Re:It's not like the royal family has any privacy! (Score:4, Interesting)
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 Royal Family has never had any real privacy to speak of... that is one of the prices that they pay for being The Royal Family.
Besides, the Queen sent her first email back in 1976 ... before much of the Slashdot audience was even born.
Re:It's not like the royal family has any privacy! (Score:5, Funny)
Something like "My father was King George VI, he had a great fortune in an overseas account and I need your help for which you will get 25% ...."
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Seems all her Royal Highness needs now is a /. account ...:P
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could you say the same of non-royal celebrities as well?
Perhaps they try to hold on to what little bit of privacy they have left.
first to hack the queen gets a free royal slap (Score:1, Troll)
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.
There goes her privacy! (Score:1)
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.
Will FaceBook be adopting the royal seal? (Score:4, Funny)
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By appointment to HRH Queen Elizabeth II
Facebook UK Limited
Social Networking Services
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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.
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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)
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"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.
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I've always wanted to poke Royalty. Now's my chance!
Can't wait (Score:1)
Royal Family's already on YouTube (Score:2)
http://www.youtube.com/theroyalchannel [youtube.com]
I particularly enjoyed watching some of the historical footage.
the sex pistols said it best.... (Score:1)
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...because nothing will save the Governor General.
How about that? Gough was quoting the Sex Pistols. I never knew that.
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Ahem, God Save The Queen was recorded only in 1976. Thus the Pistols plagiarised Gough!
The Queen that matters (Score:1)
Meanwhile, the 'Queen' that matters has had a Facebook page for ages. [facebook.com]
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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.
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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..."
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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?
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Oh yeah, I know there's British celebrity trash too; their tabloids are crazy, but I simply happened to think of a piece of American celebrity trash first. :)
Yes! (Score:2)
Selfies of the queen? (Score:1)
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its about time (Score:1)
Social Network (Score:1)
G'day Bruce (Score:2)
She's a good sheila and not at all stuck up.
Good Luck! (Score:2)
I hope this goes better than her last forray into new media:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IloIoGj5Mj0 [youtube.com]
hmm.. (Score:1)
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Anonymous Coward likes this post.
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I'd prefer somebody who has to do the job than somebody who wants to do the job.
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Well Said.
Search on youtube somewhere there is a video where the queen is talking from her heart, about her role and so on. Its a different take on things, where she is talking very personally. Its definately one to watch, and shows her dedication of her job as monarch.
Remember, unlike us, she was "born into the job". She cannot change her job, if she doesn't like it. She cannot retire to a cottage somewhere afterwards, she only retires when she dies.
She is highly insightful, yet can be extremely down to ea
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The Queen's too f*cking old to be on Facebook. Trust me, I'm a 49-year-old queen who wouldn't be caught dead on Facebook. What do you call an over-40 queen on Facebook? A Catholic priest.
A Catholic priest is far wrong. She's head of the Church of England