How technology evolved during the Queen’s 70-year reign
Queen Elizabeth II saw a remarkable technology revolution during her 70-year reign, which began with her coronation beamed on a humble TV set.
Back in 1953, the luxury status of a television meant that an average of 17 people crowded around each unit to watch the ceremony in black and white.
Computers were an abstract concept at that point, but the Queen was eventually ahead of the curve, sending her first email in 1976 on a military machine connected to an ARPANET network, which later led to the internet as we know it.
In 1983, the year that Apple released its first PC, she hailed the “communication revolution” for shortening her round trip to Delhi from months to mere hours.
It would be more than another decade until the Queen’s traditional Christmas broadcast was published online in 1997.
The internet was about to have a transformative impact on day-to-day life at that point, but by the late 1990s, just 25% of UK households had internet access.
Fast-forward to 2012 when the Queen made a memorable appearance at the London Olympics, broadband was instead being used by 75% of the population.
Two years later, the Queen signed up to social media for the first time and made her first post on Twitter. She would later make her first post on the photo-sharing app Instagram in 2019.
The Queen often marvelled at the pace of tech advancements during her lifetime but was always eager to stress the importance of “ageless ideals” such as honesty and compassion.
She noted back in 1999 that the future should not only be shaped by “new gadgets” but also by the need to care for others and to “love thy neighbour as thyself”.