Taking Charge of the Message

The monarchy is taking control of its online image

     This week, it was reported by the website Royal Central that Buckingham Palace has taken the step of registering Internet domain names for member of the Royal family.

     In all, over 30 addresses were created for Prince Philip, Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, the Duke and Duchess of Kent, the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, and several others - with names such as 'dukeofedinburgh.org', ‘earlandcountessofwessex.com’, and ‘princessbeatrice.org'.

     According the to website, the bulk registration in early February indicates that these new domain names are being established more so for defensive and protective measures - to prevent impostors and other individuals from creating websites in which they pose as members of the Royal family, or in some way imply that they speak for them.

     This news, combined with the merger of the Palace press offices, and the establishment of companies to protect the intellectual property rights of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry, indicates that the Palace is trying to stay ahead of the media and public relations game. In a world where anybody can log onto the web and claim to be somebody they are not, and where virtually everybody has a camera in their pocket, these are prudent moves to ensure that members of the Royal family do not face embarrassment as a result of people who are working opposite of their interests.

     Cynics and anti-monarchists will look at this and say that the monarchy is trying to wrap a tight leash around the press, the Internet, and is trying to control the message that gets out to the public.

     It may very well be that the Palace is trying to take control of the narrative about the monarchy, and individual members of the Royal family. However, the idea of image control is not new to the Palace (it goes back hundreds of years), nor is it an alien concept to other institutions, organizations, and individuals. Besides, it is not as though the Palace can control everything even if it wished to do so. If anything, it is becoming more difficult to control ones image in the age of social media, where a story can have a life of its own.

     There is a bit of image control on this blog, I would argue. From the beginning, I have taken pains to explain that I am not a wild-eyed "royal fanboy", and that I do not advocate for the restoration of the monarchy in America (for why would I write about George Washington in a favorable light or about the relationship between the Queen and the US presidents?). The articles seen here are about the monarchy (as well as people and events surrounding it): past, present, and future, and this blog does not obsess over trivial matters such as the Duchess of Cambridge having a single strand of gray hair (which is the result of something called "aging", which we will all go through).

     Anyway, what the Palace appears to be doing is taking taking steps to mitigate the negative effects that come with our modern and open media landscape. At times, this may mean taking action against over-zealous supporters of the monarchy who take their enthusiasm too far by creating pages and other media that appear to pose for the Royal family.

     This is why the monarchy created a website, and has an established a presence on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and other forms of social media. In similar fashion, there are websites and social media pages for Prince Charles and Camilla, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, Prince Harry, and Prince Andrew - who became the first member of the Royal family to send a personal tweet last year. The Duke of York himself explained that the whole Royal Family shares an interest in new technology, and commented that "the palace IT department are continually tested by the 'early adoption gang'" - meaning the family.

     For the Royal family, the new domain names are a preemptive measure at this point, but they may be used in time, especially with the younger generation increasing stepping up to take on more of the royal load. This will call into question the plans for a "slimmed-down" monarchy - a notion that does not sound right for this ancient institution, but I will digress on this point for now.

     The point is that if the monarchy is to survive, it must engage with the new technology to stay on top of the changing media environment, and to connect with younger generations, so that they will be properly informed about the monarchy - before the republicans and unsavory tabloids do it for them.


Photo Credit: Sodacan via Wikimedia Commons cc