All rise, for Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor has joined Facebook. Political views: Best not say, but I have tea with whoever's in charge. Current location: Abu Dhabi! Likes: corgis, hunting and hats. Yes, just in time for her first official visit to the UAE in more than 30 years, the Queen of England now has her own page on everybody's favourite social networking blackhole.
The only thing is, I'm having trouble finding her. It seems a few others got there before Buckingham Palace finally decided to sign up and a host of fraudulent queens are clogging up my search results.
There's an "HRH The Queen", listed bizarrely as "a company", which lies untended, photo-free and is clearly not something with a crest of royal approval. However, this hasn't stopped 223 people opting to "like" it or others posting their badly spelled appreciation on the wall. "HM Queen Elizabeth" looks more promising, with an official palace profile photo, almost 34,000 "likes" and a recently uploaded snap of a member of the Queen's household cavalry in traditional dress.
"Her Majesty The Queen" draws two results with a combined total of 41 "likes". Now, I know she's only been on Facebook since the beginning of the month, but I'd have thought she would be a bit more popular.
Just before I give up the chase, I'm told that it's not actually the queen herself who is on Facebook, but rather The British Monarchy.
And here it is, with the royal coat of arms as the profile picture, with almost 300,000 "likes" and a wall already heaving with pictures and videos from various military inspections, medal-giving ceremonies and dinners with foreign dignitaries. And in making the Facebook page a thing rather than a person, the queen has cunningly avoided the inevitable "friend requests" or "pokes" she would have received, along with countless invitations for her to join Mafia Wars.
Instead, visitors can simply "like" the page, and leave messages under the posts. These run the gamut from declarations of love for the princes to questions about the contents of the Queen's handbag.
Given that this is all on the official page, it's rather funny. But I can't help but think that when a certain someone finally sits down to update her status after a day of inspecting the sights of the UAE capital, they might not be so amused.
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Russia's Muslim Heartlands
Dominic Rubin, Oxford
Western Region Asia Cup T20 Qualifier
Sun Feb 23 – Thu Feb 27, Al Amerat, Oman
The two finalists advance to the Asia qualifier in Malaysia in August
Group A
Bahrain, Maldives, Oman, Qatar
Group B
UAE, Iran, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia
UAE SQUAD
Khalid Essa, Ali Khaseif, Fahad Al Dhanhani, Adel Al Hosani, Bandar Al Ahbabi, Mohammad Barghash, Salem Rashid, Khalifa Al Hammadi, Shaheen Abdulrahman, Hassan Al Mahrami, Walid Abbas, Mahmoud Khamis, Yousef Jaber, Majed Sorour, Majed Hassan, Ali Salmeen, Abdullah Ramadan, Abdullah Al Naqbi, Khalil Al Hammadi, Fabio De Lima, Khalfan Mubarak, Tahnoon Al Zaabi, Ali Saleh, Caio Canedo, Ali Mabkhout, Sebastian Tagliabue, Zayed Al Ameri
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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ELIO
Starring: Yonas Kibreab, Zoe Saldana, Brad Garrett
Directors: Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi, Adrian Molina
Rating: 4/5
Company profile
Name: Dukkantek
Started: January 2021
Founders: Sanad Yaghi, Ali Al Sayegh and Shadi Joulani
Based: UAE
Number of employees: 140
Sector: B2B Vertical SaaS(software as a service)
Investment: $5.2 million
Funding stage: Seed round
Investors: Global Founders Capital, Colle Capital Partners, Wamda Capital, Plug and Play, Comma Capital, Nowais Capital, Annex Investments and AMK Investment Office
Gran Gala del Calcio 2019 winners
Best Player: Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus)
Best Coach: Gian Piero Gasperini (Atalanta)
Best Referee: Gianluca Rocchi
Best Goal: Fabio Quagliarella (Sampdoria vs Napoli)
Best Team: Atalanta
Best XI: Samir Handanovic (Inter); Aleksandar Kolarov (Roma), Giorgio Chiellini (Juventus), Kalidou Koulibaly (Napoli), Joao Cancelo (Juventus*); Miralem Pjanic (Juventus), Josip Ilicic (Atalanta), Nicolo Barella (Cagliari*); Fabio Quagliarella (Sampdoria), Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus), Duvan Zapata (Atalanta)
Serie B Best Young Player: Sandro Tonali (Brescia)
Best Women’s Goal: Thaisa (Milan vs Juventus)
Best Women’s Player: Manuela Giugliano (Milan)
Best Women’s XI: Laura Giuliani (Milan); Alia Guagni (Fiorentina), Sara Gama (Juventus), Cecilia Salvai (Juventus), Elisa Bartoli (Roma); Aurora Galli (Juventus), Manuela Giugliano (Roma), Valentina Cernoia (Juventus); Valentina Giacinti (Milan), Ilaria Mauro (Fiorentina), Barbara Bonansea (Juventus)
RUGBY CHAMPIONSHIP FIXTURES
September 30
South Africa v Australia
Argentina v New Zealand
October 7
South Africa v New Zealand
Argentina v Australia
Ticket prices
- Golden circle - Dh995
- Floor Standing - Dh495
- Lower Bowl Platinum - Dh95
- Lower Bowl premium - Dh795
- Lower Bowl Plus - Dh695
- Lower Bowl Standard- Dh595
- Upper Bowl Premium - Dh395
- Upper Bowl standard - Dh295
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The years Ramadan fell in May
Company profile
Name: Tratok Portal
Founded: 2017
Based: UAE
Sector: Travel & tourism
Size: 36 employees
Funding: Privately funded
MATHC INFO
England 19 (Try: Tuilagi; Cons: Farrell; Pens: Ford (4)
New Zealand 7 (Try: Savea; Con: Mo'unga)
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League quarter-final, second leg (first-leg score):
Manchester City (0) v Tottenham Hotspur (1), Wednesday, 11pm UAE
Match is on BeIN Sports
The specs
Engine: Long-range single or dual motor with 200kW or 400kW battery
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Max touring range: 620km / 590km
Price: From Dh250,000 (estimated)
Zayed Sustainability Prize
UAE’s revised Cricket World Cup League Two schedule
August, 2021: Host - United States; Teams - UAE, United States and Scotland
Between September and November, 2021 (dates TBC): Host - Namibia; Teams - Namibia, Oman, UAE
December, 2021: Host - UAE; Teams - UAE, Namibia, Oman
February, 2022: Hosts - Nepal; Teams - UAE, Nepal, PNG
June, 2022: Hosts - Scotland; Teams - UAE, United States, Scotland
September, 2022: Hosts - PNG; Teams - UAE, PNG, Nepal
February, 2023: Hosts - UAE; Teams - UAE, PNG, Nepal