Queen revamps Web site, adds job applications

[February 12, 2009]  LONDON (AP) -- Queen Elizabeth II is offering Internet-savvy subjects the option of applying for a job at her palace through her newly revamped Web site, royal officials said Thursday.

First launched in 1997, the British queen's purple-toned site provides pictures, news and background on the monarch and her family. Officials said the improved site will now have a direct link to the videos carried on YouTube's royal channel, integration with Google Maps, and a new section on the queen's pets.

Those interested in seeing her majesty up close will have the chance to submit their job applications to Buckingham Palace and book interviews over the Internet.

Although openings are already posted online (a selection includes trainee butler and housekeeping assistant) a palace spokesman said the new Web site would have much more "about what it's like to work here at the royal household" -- including information about the social side to serving the queen.

He spoke on condition of anonymity, in line with palace policy.

Those interested in following the queen's movements can now track the royal diary of engagements using Google's geolocation software, and animal lovers can keep up with the Queen's corgis -- the diminutive dogs seldom far from her side -- on the Web site's new section devoted to royal animals.

The site also adds archival material, such as a recording of the queen's first public speech (as Princess Elizabeth) on Oct. 13, 1940, a copy of the letter Elizabeth's father King George VI sent to Winston Churchill on the eve of D-Day, and an 1878 extract from Queen Victoria's journal in which she describes using a telephone for the first time.

The palace said around 250,000 visitors visit the British monarchy's Web site every week.

___

On the Net:

http://royal.gov.uk/

[Associated Press; By RAPHAEL G. SATTER]

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.