Queen Elizabeth stunned onlookers when she broke down in a fit of giggles during a tour of Google’s headquarters yesterday (16.10.08).
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The monarch – who was accompanied by her husband Prince Philip – began laughing after she was shown a clip of a baby with an infectious giggle on online video sharing site YouTube, which website search engine Google bought two years ago.
After watching the excerpt the queen turned to Philip and exclaimed: “Lovely little thing isn’t it? Amazing a child would laugh like that.”
During her visit, the queen – who, at the age of 82, regularly emails her grandsons Princes William and Harry and has her own royal channel on YouTube – was given a tour of the company’s London offices.
Nikesh Arora, president of Google Europe, Middle East and Africa, said: “She did seem very, very interested in everything going on. She has used YouTube and has her own royal channel and understands what our products are about.”
To celebrate the queen’s visit the search engine revealed a royal version of their famous logo.
A profile of the queen was incorporated into the site’s homepage, with the ‘e’ of the company’s name being topped by a crown.
The royal couple met 16 children who had won a competition to design ‘doodles’ which will also be used on Google’s homepage.
The queen and prince also received a display of Google’s search capabilities and were shown the results which came up when various topics – including their London residence Buckingham Palace and Royal Corgis, a breed of dog favoured by the queen – were entered.
Before the results were shown, Philip struck up a conversation with Matthew Trewhella, a developer advocate who promotes his organisation’s products to companies, who was dressed casually in a hooded top and trainers.
The Duke of Edinburgh enquired: “Just back from jogging?”
