Queen to launch new-look website

The Queen is to relaunch her website at a Buckingham Palace reception in the company of the world wide web's inventor, Sir Tim Berners-Lee. The royal site, which started in 1997, will include more video material as well as historical documents.

Queen Victoria's journal in which she describes trying out Alexander Graham Bell's new invention, the telephone, will be among the new features.

Currently, about 250,000 people around the world visit the site each week.

In touch
When the site was first launched, the Queen spoke of how some parents and grandparents found the internet "a bit of a mystery".

Now 12 years on, the site is being updated to keep a younger generation in touch with an elderly monarch.

BBC royal correspondent Peter Hunt said while the site should be more user-friendly, the Queen is only going so far into cyberspace. "We can't e-mail her and there's little prospect of the Queen blogging, conducting a webchat or indeed twittering," our correspondent added.

The site was visited more than 100 million times in its first year, making it one of the most popular locations on the internet at the time. And in the week of Princess Diana's funeral, some 35 million visits were recorded.

Royal.gov.uk is not the only presence the Queen has on the internet. In 2007, she launched her own channel on the video-sharing website YouTube.

The Royal Channel features her Christmas Day message, and recent and historical footage of the monarch and other members of the Royal Family.