Did you know that there’s been a Royal website since 1997? It hadn’t previously made it to my favourites list so I thought I’d take a look at the re-launched royal.gov.uk.
It’s actually quite impressive with a wealth of information for die-hard Royalists and interested observers alike.
My favourite feature is the ‘Royal Tracker’, a map that lets you see when a member of the Royal family will be visiting your town (though it doesn’t seem to be Google Latitude equipped for real-time tracking).
It will certainly spawn plenty of ‘busiest’ and ‘best value’ stories and I’m sure it’s a matter of time before someone compiles a Royal visit league table. The Princess Royal looks like an early contender. For example, on her visit to Derbyshire on Wednesday 3 March, she’s getting around fashion designer John Smedlley, a Citizens’ Advice Bureau, local St John’s Ambulance and a children’s hospital. Quite a day’s work.
If it’s transparency you’re after there’s even a balance sheet which shows that The Queen costs each taxpayer 62 pence per year. Although I’m sure the Royal Household has got more than the British taxpayer in mind. According to Alexa, less than a third of the site’s visitors are UK based, with the US alone accounting for 23.2% of traffic – it’ll be interesting to see how it goes down with international visitors.
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Rich Benson