Amount of times the Queen has viewed cutting-edge gadgets, The Queen witnessed many technological advances over the years, many of which have influenced the modern world.
She looked at new technology with awe and some skepticism, from automated grocery checkout to the earliest forms of electronic communication.
Her enthusiasm is similar to that of previous royals, such as her great-great-grandfather, Prince Albert.
In the early 1900s, Prince Albert, Queen Victoria’s husband, saw a working model of Charles Babbage’s proposed “Difference Engine.”
Subsequently, Babbage wrote to the prince to elaborate on his ground-breaking work.
Throughout her reign, Queen Elizabeth II was also depicted learning about and exploring new technologies, keeping with royal tradition.
After the coronavirus had the country in lockdown, the Queen made her first video call from the Oak Room in Windsor Castle.
During the height of the pandemic, Queen Elizabeth called in to speak with four caregivers about the challenges they were facing. Princess Anne, her daughter, joined her and patiently helped her set up the Webex video chat.
The Queen eventually became an advocate for video conferencing, and in 2021, she held 118 of her 192 engagements online.
The members of the royal household were dubbed the “HMS Bubble” while they were under lockdown. After the lockdown was lifted, the Queen still used video calling technology for some of her official duties.
While celebrating Sainsbury’s 150th anniversary, Queen Elizabeth may have seen a self-checkout machine for the first time.
When she inquired as to the device’s safety features, she was relieved to learn that it included scales to prevent customers from trying to sneak extra products past its scanners.
An interesting tool, the shopping app was demonstrated to her as well.
Specifically, she went to see the museum’s “Information Age” exhibit, which traced the history of communication innovations.
The Queen visited Google’s UK headquarters and recorded a video that she later uploaded to Youtube. She also received a plaque with a piece of Google’s code on it.
Together with Prince Philip, she was able to view famous landmarks on a computer screen. Both Big Ben and Windsor Castle were on display as they were taken on a virtual tour of London via Google Maps.
For the 2001 Commonwealth Games, Queen Elizabeth II was photographed with an electronic relay baton. The blue light on the device is supposed to flash in sync with the user’s heart rate.
A ceremonial baton, much like the Olympic flame, travels to different countries every four years to celebrate the Commonwealth Games.
Compared to previous years, this one was packed with cutting-edge technology, including an imaging sensor, GPS, LED lights, and a mechanical chamber containing the Queen’s message to the Commonwealth.
The Queen was already sending emails in 1976, long before popular providers like AOL had even been founded.
Her message was filled with technical jargon, informing users of the pioneering data processing system ARPANET that they could now communicate in the “Coral 66” programming language.
The computer scientist Peter Kirstein assured WIRED that all she had to do to operate the system was “press a couple of buttons.”
Here’s a snippet from the email in case you’re curious: “This message to all ARPANET users announces the availability on ARPANET of the Coral 66 compiler provided by the GEC 4080 computer at the Royal Signals and Radar Establishment, Malvern, England.” The Ministry of Defense has officially adopted the real-time high-level language known as Coral 66.