THE FOLLOWING STATEMENT IS ISSUED BY THE PRESS SECRETARY TO THE QUEEN
Buckingham Palace has launched an account on the online photo management site Flickr.
The British Monarchy Website Flickr account streams both up-to-the-minute images of royal engagements and archive photographs from the Royal Photograph Collection. The launch is timed to coincide with the Summer Opening of Buckingham Palace, as the site highlights photographs specially commissioned for the Palace’s exhibition The Queen’s Year, which opens on 27 July.
In addition to contemporary images of The Queen and Members of the Royal Family at work, the Flickr Account features historic photographs from current Royal Collection exhibitions at The Queen’s Gallery, Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle and on loan to museums and galleries around the UK. They include masterpieces of early British photography collected by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.
The Flickr photo site is the latest way in which the Royal Household is engaging with technological innovation and follows the launch of the new Royal website (www.royal.gov.uk) and the British Monarchy Twitter account in 2009 and the Royal Channel on You Tube in 2007. The British Monarchy Website Flickr account is a collaboration between Buckingham Palace, St James’s Palace and Clarence House.
The account includes:
- A “Latest news and diary” gallery showing the latest photographs from royal engagements.
- Collections from The Queen’s recent visit to Canada and New York, and Holyrood Week.
- A “Queen and Commonwealth” section, which includes pictures of Royal visits to Commonwealth realms and related engagements.
- Specially commissioned photographs for the exhibition The Queen’s Year at Buckingham Palace Summer Opening taken during The Queen’s programme of engagements over the past twelve months (including a State Banquet, a military review, diplomatic credentials and a Garden Party).
- Photography by Roger Fenton, Julia Margaret Cameron and other pioneering practitioners of the medium. These were collected by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, who lent their enthusiastic support to the new art form.
- Photographs of two generations of royal children, taken by Marcus Adams from 1926 to 1956, including images of The Queen and The Prince of Wales as babies.
In total at launch there are over 600 photographs, and this figure will increase as the Flickr account is continuously updated with photos from Royal engagements and events.
NOTES TO EDITORS
1. The Monarchy Flickr goes live officially on Monday 26 July and can be accessed at www.flickr.com/britishmonarchy and photostream www.flickr.com/photos/britishmonarchy
2. There are 28 sets in total, which can be divided into the following categories:
Royal Collection (7 sets)
- The special exhibition The Queen’s Year at Buckingham Palace: Garden Parties (Buckingham Palace Garden Party, 22 June 2010).
- The special exhibition The Queen’s Year at Buckingham Palace: State Banquet 2010 (State Banquet for President Zuma of South Africa, 3 March 2010).
- The special exhibition The Queen’s Year at Buckingham Palace: Review of the Company of Pikemen and Musketeers (Military Review of the Company of Pikemen and Musketeers of the Honourable Artillery Company at Armoury House, City Road, London, 12 May 2010).
- The special exhibition The Queen’s Year at Buckingham Palace: Credentials (Credentials for the Ambassador of El Salvador, 16 March 2010)
- Queen Victoria, Prince Albert and Early British Photography (including the work of Roger Fenton and Julia Margaret Cameron)
- Behind the scenes at a State Banquet (showing Royal Household staff at work)
- Marcus Adams photographs of royal children.
The Royal Family (21 sets)
- Latest News and Diary
- The Queen and the Commonwealth
- Royal events and ceremonies
- Visit to Canada 2010
- Visit to New York City 2010
- Holyrood Week 2010
(Members of the Royal Family)
- Her Majesty The Queen
- The Duke of Edinburgh
- The Prince of Wales
- The Duchess of Cornwall
- Prince William
- Prince Harry
- The Duke of York
- The Earl of Wessex
- The Countess of Wessex
- The Princess Royal
- The Duke of Gloucester
- Duchess of Gloucester
- The Duke of Kent
- Princess Alexandra
- Prince and Princess Michael of Kent
3. A limited number of high-res images from the Royal Collection set will be available from the Buckingham Palace Press Office. Please speak with Zaki Cooper or Emma Goodey on 020 7930 4832.
To obtain high-res copies of the pictures with a PA Copyright, please call the PA Picture Desk on 020 7963 7000.
4. The Flickr account compliments existing British Monarchy web presences on www.royal.gov.uk, YouTube and Twitter. Flickr users will be able to share and embed photographs in blogs and social media.
5. Useful links
- The British Monarchy Flickr account: www.flickr.com/britishmonarchy
- The Royal family and technology: http://www.royal.gov.uk/ImagesandBroadcasts/TheQueenandtechnology.aspx
- The British Monarchy website: www.royal.gov.uk
- Prince of Wales website: www.princeofwales.gov.uk
- Prince William and Prince Harry website: www.princewilliamandprinceharry.org
- The Royal Collection website: www.royalcollection.org.uk
- The British Monarchy Twitter account: www.twitter.com/britishmonarchy
- The British Monarchy YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/theroyalchannel
