Prince Andrew is best known for being the second son of Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of York. While he isn’t going to be king anytime soon, he can still claim a first: the first royal family member to tweet under their own name.
Prince Andrew is totally pimping out his Duke of York status by writing under the Twitter name @TheDukeOfYork.
At 10 am on July 8, Prince Andrew tweeted the following message: “Welcome to my Twitter account — AY.”
A few minutes after his royal tweet was sent to his subjects, he had thousands of followers.
Fast forward to 6:18pm Central standard time on July 9 and @TheDukeOfYork now commands the attention of 25,828 followers.
While other royal family members have Twitter accounts, they are populated with messages that have been obviously constructed by a staff of PR experts.
Prince Andrew isn’t just tweeting; he’s also following people with 89 accounts being tracked by the fourth man in line for the crown.
The Duke of York still has a long way to go before he catches up to ex-wife Sarah, Duchess of York. The Duchess commands an audience of 60,000+ Twitter followers.
Here are a few more tweets that Prince Andrew has sent since taking to the social micro-blogging service:
The Duke with inspiring students at Black Country UTC pic.twitter.com/aD6VE4v6Nr
— The Duke of York (@TheDukeOfYork) July 8, 2013
Lord Baker announces The Duke of York Technical Education Award – further information: pic.twitter.com/PwSADahhH1
— The Duke of York (@TheDukeOfYork) July 8, 2013
Congratulations to Harry Day, Solihull College, National Entrepreneur of the Year @PJEA_org Graduation pic.twitter.com/dCI0OsDme7
— The Duke of York (@TheDukeOfYork) July 9, 2013
The Duke of York also gives some insight into events at Buckingham Palace:
At tonight’s Backing Youth reception at Buckingham Palace – linking business with orgs helping young people in need pic.twitter.com/9fip8FeqYV — The Duke of York (@TheDukeOfYork) July 9, 2013
If you notice a lot of tweets that read “We” or refer to “The Duke,” don’t assume it is not Prince Andrew. In that case, it probably really is the “royal” we.
I don’t know about all of you, but I used this opportunity to leave a completely appropriate but creepy message to someone I would probably never have the pleasure of speaking with in “real life”:
I’m closely following @TheDukeOfYork . If I said that two days ago I would be getting a knock on my door from the Royal Guard.
— James Johnson (@SocialNewsGuy) July 9, 2013
Still need proof that Twitter is relevant? The social network is making Royal Family members accessible.
