Prince William and his wife Kate Middleton have taken another step into the world of social media, launching a YouTube channel separate to the Royal Family.
The channel, which is titled The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, already had more than 140,000 subscribers by midday Thursday (AEST).
The couple’s first video is a 25-second series of clips that looks like a trailer of their lives, which mostly involves events and media appearances.
It includes candid moments as they joke about being filmed. At the beginning, William warns Kate to “be careful” of what she is saying, adding: “You’re on camera now. These guys are filming everything!”
Later Kate throws a bit of shade at her husband:
“You don’t need to roll your Rs.”
William takes a quick pause and replies: “Do I not?”
The video has received more than 500,000 page views and allows comments.
The royals and social media
Social media has become the preferred way for members of the royal family to control the narrative about their lives by releasing a stream of images, videos and statements to the public and press.
In the case of Prince William and Kate, it is used to promote their charitable interests and diplomatic efforts, and give controlled insight into their lives with birthday photos of their children.
Last week the couple released images and a video celebrating their 10th anniversary.
There are official Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Facebook accounts for the royal family, which directly represent the Queen and all other members of the British monarchy.
The YouTube account adds to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s growing list of accounts that separates them as an increasingly popular brand of their own.
The couple already have their own Twitter account with 2.2 million followers, @KensingtonRoyal, and their own Instagram account with 12.7 million followers.
While they fall short of the royal family Twitter account’s 4.6 million followers, they outperform its 10 million followers on Instagram.
The royal family has 5.5 million followers on Facebook, and 848,000 subscribers on YouTube.
Prince Charles, heir to the throne, and his wife Camilla have a Twitter account under the name @Clarencehouse, which is just shy of one million followers.
The Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall also have an Instagram account with 1.4 million followers.
Harry and Meghan quiet on Instagram
Prince Harry and his wife Meghan used the launch of their own Instagram account @sussexroyal in 2019 to further distance themselves from the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.
It became the fastest Instagram account to gain 1 million followers, according to the Guinness World Records.
The couple’s last post was in March 2020 ahead of their exit from royal life.
They have since been absent on social media, instead releasing official statements directly to the media.
-ABC
