The Queen is an elderly lady, she should not be expected to keep abreast of the latest trends in social media. Despite the increasing onus on heads of state to cultivate, or have cultivated for them, some affable online presence, it is obvious that she would be unable to curate this herself. It would, alas, be too much to expect someone of her advanced years to have a comprehensive understanding of social media. Were she to have a photo taken of her by an aide, one imagines she may summon them over and, having assessed the image on screen, say, "Oh that's lovely dear, I think that will do very nicely as my new profiler on MySpace". Or perhaps when some orderly of hers utters an amusing bon-mot she might croak, "How very droll dear, you must put that on Yik Yak, it would go down a storm!" Or she might smirkingly warn some visiting viscount, "Don't let Philip get hold of your phone, the last time he got his paws on mine he absolutely made a fucking shambles of my Bebo top 16."
It's tragic really, to see someone, otherwise so dignified, so comprehensively fail to keep up to speed with the latest developments in social media. Which is where you - yes, you, reading this now! - can come in handy. If you are moved to tears by the thought of the Queen, sitting alone in a room in her palace, confusedly hitting reload on her Vine log-in page, simply unable to comprehend why she isn't able to see her beloved videos of seven seconds or less, then this may the job opening you've been waiting for.
Buckingham Palace are looking to hire a 'Digital Communications Officer' to help manage the social media presence of the Royal family. The role will essentially see you become the Queen's 'cyber-attaché' - my phrase, not theirs - helping to cultivate her online presence. While the role is apparently based primarily in Buckingham Palace, you will also accompanying the Queen on selected trips she makes around the world to help cover them. These will be all expenses paid.
If you have long harboured some desire to convince an elderly head of state to participate in the ice-bucket challenge; or perform the 'Harlem shake'; or to plank somewhere, for the explicit purposes of gaining online notoriety, then this may very well be the only opportunity that will slake this desire of yours.
The salary is around £30,000 a year, depending on experience. There are also a slew of other perks inherent to the position that are further detailed on their website - including a pension and generous annual holidays.
The role is described as follows - and it is at this point I will copy and paste the entire 'about the role' section on the job page, should you still be uncertain as to whether you want to click over to their website.
Advertisement
It's finding new ways to maintain The Queen's presence in the public eye and on the world stage. This is what makes working for the Royal Household exceptional.
The role of Royal Communications is to engage a worldwide audience with the public role and work of The Royal Family. Joining this fast paced and dynamic team, your challenge will be to manage and oversee the daily news flow on digital and social networking platforms, as well as play a key part in some of the digital projects.
Working as part of a small team of digital media specialists, you'll create content for social networking and digital platforms, including our newly launched website, as well as researching and writing feature articles.
Whether you're covering a state visit, award ceremony or Royal engagement, you'll make sure our digital channels consistently spark interest and reach a range of audiences.
With an eye to the future, you'll help hone and shape our digital communications through analytics, monitoring and exploring new technologies.
The reaction to our work is always high-profile, and so reputation and impact will be at the forefront of all you do. And having your work shared around the world will be the biggest reward.
So, should you be intrigued by the prospect of uploading photographs of the longest reigning, living monarch, shaking hands with various flustered diplomats onto Twitte,r then you should heave your CV into the pile and see how you fare.
