The advent of radio, television and the internet have meant that it is possible for images and audio of the Royal Family to be seen across the world by millions of people.
Below is a timeline charting how the Royal Family have kept up-to-date with new technologies throughout the 20th and 21st centuries.
1878 – Queen Victoria meets Alexander Graham Bell and tries out his new invention, the telephone. ‘A Professor Bell explained the whole process which is most extraordinary’, the Queen wrote in her diary.
1918 – The first ever mass communication from a reigning British Monarch is sent out when a letter from George V is reproduced and distributed to all returning prisoners of war using lithography: ‘The Queen joins me in welcoming you on your release from the miseries and hardships, which you have endured with so much patience and courage.’
1932 – King George V makes his first Christmas Broadcast via radio: ‘I speak now from my home and from my heart to you all; to men and women so cut off by the snows, the desert, or the sea, that only voices out of the air can reach them’.
1937 - The Coronation procession of George VI becomes the first televised outside broadcast.
1940 – The Queen (then Princess Elizabeth) makes her first ever radio broadcast accompanied by Princess Margaret on Children’s Hour on the BBC: ‘In wishing you all 'good evening' I feel that I am speaking to friends and companions who have shared with my sister and myself many a happy Children's Hour’.
1947 - The Queen (then Princess Elizabeth) dedicates her life to the service of the Commonwealth via a radio broadcast from South Africa on her 21st birthday: 'I declare before you all that my whole life whether it be long or short shall be devoted to your service'.
1953 – The Queen allows television cameras inside Westminster Abbey for the first time during a State occasion for her Coronation. An extra half a million TV sets are sold in the weeks running up to the event.
1957 – The first live Christmas Broadcast on television. During her speech, Her Majesty mentions the benefits of new technology: ‘That it is possible for some of you to see me today is just another example of the speed at which things are changing all around us ... television has made it possible for many of you to see me in your homes’.
1958 – The Queen makes the first phone trunk call from Bristol to Edinburgh.
1976 – The Queen becomes the first Monarch to send an email during a visit to an army base.
1997 – The Queen launches www.royal.gov.uk during a visit to Kingsbury High School in Brent.
2002 - 3,521 journalists from over 60 countries are accredited via an Internet-based virtual press office to cover events to mark The Queen’s Golden Jubilee.
2006 – The Christmas Broadcast, or ‘Queen’s speech’ is podcast for the first time.
2007 – The Queen launches the first Royal Channel on YouTube
2008 – The Queen uploads a video to YouTube during a visit to the ‘Google’ offices in London.
2009 – a new version of www.royal.gov.uk is launched by The Queen.
A British Monarchy Twitter account is launched www.twitter.com/BritishMonarchy
2010 – The Queen visited Research in Motion (RIM) headquarters in Toronto on her visit to Canada
A British Monarchy Flickr account is launched www.flickr.com/photos/britishmonarchy
A British Monarchy Facebook account is launched
www.facebook.com/TheBritishMonarchy
