Google Doodle celebrates Queen's Diamond Jubilee
Summary: HM the Queen has been on the throne for 60 years, and the search giant is marking the occasion and honouring the British monarch with a holiday Google Doodle.
LONDON --- It's the Queen's Diamond Jubilee. The streets are closed, the parties are on, and the collective sound of chirruping party blowers to mark six-decades of Her Majesty's reign can be heard for miles.
Google is also marking the occasion by updating its front-page logo with a traditional 'doodle' to reflect the four-day celebration in the United Kingdom. The static image includes two corgis --- the Queen's dogs --- and a silhouette of the monarch with a letter 'e' encrusted in the crown.
The Queen became the monarch of the United Kingdom and then the British Empire in 1952 the moment her father, King George VI, passed away. She was crowned a year later in 1953: the first coronation broadcast on the television airwaves. Despite only being in black and white, more than half a million television sets were sold in the weeks running up to the day, 60 years ago today.
More than 20 years later in the very early days of the Internet, in 1976 the Queen became the first monarch to send an email. It's not known what the message contained, though Her Majesty likely didn't use any emoticons seeing as the sideways smiley-face hadn't been invented until 1982.
Remaining with the technological times, the Royal family launched its website in 1997, and kept up-to-date in launching a YouTube stream in 2007, a Twitter account in 2009, a Facebook page in 2010.
It's not the first Google Doodle dedicated to Her Majesty. When the Queen visited Google's U.K. headquarters in London --- actually only around the corner from her home at Buckingham Palace --- the search giant updated its logo in 2008 with a royal portrait in place of one of the letters.
The next celebration: mark your calendars for September 2015 when the Queen becomes the longest serving British monarch of all time, surpassing Queen Victoria's record of more than 63 years on the throne.
God save the Queen!
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Queen what is that?
She has...
"She" hands over 304 million UKP to the government each year from revenue generated by the Royal Estates, which is used to offset the 34 millio UKP that the whole royal family costs each year.
I'm not a royalist, but "mooching off other people's money" is a little unfair.
Didnt take long
The Crown Estate generates a profit, the monarchy the biggest tourism draw in the UK.
She's had the same job for 60 years
Apparently, you learn a few things looking over the shoulders of 12 different British Prime Ministers and countless Commonwealth ones if you pay close attention.