Inside the history of the Royal Family’s Twitter account, from sending the Queen’s first tweet to announcing her death

Around 2014, the account began to engage more with its followers and post more personal content about the Royals.

Around 2014, the @RoyalFamily account began to post more personal content and used Twitter to engage more with its followers.

While earlier tweets were typically links to the official website or announcements, tweets from 2014 onwards began to mark a change in how the account was used by the royals.

Subsequent tweets included photos of the Royal Family, tweets in Gaelic to celebrate the Irish State Visit in March of that year, archival materials about the monarchy, hashtags, as well as responses to content about the Royals posted by other accounts.

The account announced the death of Prince Phillip in 2021.

The Royal Family have embraced social media more readily in recent years, including posting content that gave Royals’ fans more of a personal connection to the family. 

This change in their approach to social media led to the Royal Family announcing the death of Prince Phillip, the Queen’s husband, via Twitter and their website at 12pm BST on April 9, 2021.

The tweet read, “It is with deep sorrow that Her Majesty The Queen has announced the death of her beloved husband, His Royal Highness The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. His Royal Highness passed away peacefully this morning at Windsor Castle.”

The same wording was used in the official announcement on the Royal Family’s website, and sent to news outlets worldwide. 

After the Queen’s death, the Royal Family’s various accounts changed their profile photos in her honor.

The image has replaced the profile photos of every official Royal Family social media account. @RoyalFamily/Twitter

Following the Queen’s death, the @RoyalFamily account changed its Twitter profile picture to the royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom.

@KensingtonRoyal also changed its profile picture to the royal coat of arms from one of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge smiling. 

The name of the @KensingtonRoyal was also changed from “The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge” to “The Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and Cambridge,” to reflect their new titles.

@ClarenceHouse, the account for Charles and Camilla, replaced an official portrait of the couple with its crest, the Prince of Wales’ feathers. Their name has not yet been changed to reflect their new titles.