Royalty on social media: Princes, Dukes and Duchesses get web savvy

Prince Andrew broke the British mould and was the first member of the royal family to join Twitter with a personal account. His first tweet read: “Welcome to my Twitter account – AY” and since then he has clearly mastered the art of taking a good selfie!

Princess Beatrice also has a Twitter account but unlike other members of her generation the Princess doesn’t use the medium to tweet sexy selfies but instead boost her philanthropic interests. Here the young royal is with Holly Branson giving a Twitter shout out to one of her charitable causes.

Harry breached the royal technology barrier back in May when he fired off his first tweet on the @InvictusLondon handle. The message read: “Hope everyone will get behind #invictusgames. Great opportunity to support and thank the men and women who have given so much. Harry.”

William and Harry took the opportunity to take some selfies together while at a Google hangout session where they were joining the search to find young people for the Queen’s Young Leaders Awards.

Princess Marie-Chantal of Greece and Denmark is a busy working mother-of-five who also happens to find the time to keep her 30k Instagram followers in the loop of her royal life. She is also a fan of the “duck face” it would seem. Of this shot at Paris Fashion Week the trendy Princess captioned: “When In doubt pout with da mama.”

Marie-Chantal posted this shot of her eldest daughter, Princess Maria-Olympia having a real-life princess meets Disney princess moment. “Olympia in pink”, she wrote.

The Crown Princess of Norway, Mette-Marit is as down-to-earth as they come and allows her loyal subjects to take a sneak-peek into her personal life with her Twitter account, @CrownPrincessMM.

While they mightn’t have their own Twitter account William and Kate posed for #selfies with fans while in Sydney earlier this year.

William and Kate utilised the Clarence House Twitter account to announce the name of their first born. “The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are delighted to announce that they have named their son George Alexander Louis,” read the tweet. A follow-up tweet gave followers the appropriate title to use when addressing the royal offspring: “The baby will be known as His Royal Highness Prince George of Cambridge.”

Princess Madeleine of Sweden uses her Facebook to connect with her royal fans. She recently posted this snap of herself with her husband, British-born American businessman Christopher O’Neill and their baby daughter, Princess Leonore, Duchess of Gotland, born in February.