The Queen joins Facebook: 40,000 fans rush to 'like' new page in first hour

More than 40,000 people rushed to "like" the Queen's new Facebook page in the first hour after it was launched.

The Queen has launched a Facebook page for the British Monarchy

The official British Monarchy page was launched at 8am on the world's most popular social networking site, allowing users to connect with the Royal Family online.

Though it is not possible to become "friends" with the Queen or any of her relatives, around 41,000 Facebook users had clicked the button allowing them to "like" the page by 9am, an hour after it was launched.

The British Monarchy page provides a hi-tech version of the traditional Court Circular, detailing the daily engagements of members of the Royal Family and allowing users to comment on the arrangements.

Photographs of members of the Royal family are being uploaded onto the page and users are able to search for future Royal visits, ceremonies and engagements in their area using a "Near Me" application.

The new Facebook page has been described as "the final frontier" of the Queen's foray into digital technonogy.

The official @BritishMonarchy account on Twitter already has 70,148 followers. There is alsoTheRoyalChannel on YouTube, the video-sharing website, which has 32,418 subscribers and whose films have been watched 8.3million times over the past three years
.