Rania: “A mum and a wife”

London, May 9: Queen Rania Al Abdullah of Jordan, who already has a channel on YouTube, has now signed up to the microblogging service Twitter.

The royal, who uses the Twitter handle QueenRania, is following 23 people, including chef Jamie Oliver, Twitter founders Biz Stone and Evan Williams, and Arnold Schwarzenegger, governor of California. She has gathered more than 2,000 followers in return, and has updated her profile 17 times in the last day.

Queen Rania, who describes herself on her Twitter page as “a mum and a wife with a really cool day job”, has long been a user of social media sites and new Web-based technologies.

She has her own channel on the YouTube video-sharing site, as well as her own website and blog. Queen Rania is particularly concerned about women’s and children’s rights, and uses her royal status and considerable authority to push for better treatment.

Her tweets provide a fascinating insight into royal life. “Just choppered to airport to receive Pope. Husband piloting, he got acrobatic to quiet butterflies in stomach :) told u he was action man!” reads one message. Another paints a more homely picture: “Wknd begins for us, watching Matthew McConaughey in Ghosts of Girlfriends Past. Glad I’m not single. It’s vicious out there!”

Queen Rania has been updating directly from the Web, and using third-party services such as TweetDeck and Twibble.