King Henry VIII Joins Twitter

King Henry VIII joins Twitter tomorrow, according to the Brand Republic News today.

LONDON – One of England’s greatest kings Henry VIII will be Tweeting from beyond the grave, updating Twitter followers about events from 500 years ago which helped to shape the modern world.

The Historic Royal Palaces, the charity that cares for Hampton Court Palace and the Tower of London (two sites synonymous with the monarch) has set up the social networking identity IamHenryVIII.

Followers of the king will be able to read about events — from when he learned of the death of his father on April 22, to his coronation at Westminster Abbey on June 24 — exactly half a millennium after they happened.

The new @IamHenryVIII isn’t the first historical tweeter. @Genny_Spencer, for example, recounts the daily one-line diary entries of teenage Genivieve Spencer, living in rural Illinois from 1937 to 194i. This also isn’t the first historical event performed as social media. If you haven’t seen the Aeneid as a Facebook feed yet, you’re missing out!

But I think Twitter is particularly appropriate for Henry VIII. In an era when London commoners would gather to watch the king dine, I imagine Tudor England would welcome constant status updates about the king’s day.

The tweeting king would be able to see his follower count go up and down instead of having London street mobs express the political climate. At high points, he’d gather more followers than @aplusk! And the  eager eyes of the court would watch who he followed, how many Boleyns or Howards, Catholics or Protestants.

I suppose King Henry would probably have the Groom of the Bedchamber send status updates for him.  Although if he tweeted, we could expect from @IamHenryVIII:

Kicked butt at Guinegate. Missing @RegentKathy.

At Field of Cloth of Gold. Gotta go, @TheDauphin wants to have dinner. Again.

New Act of Succession! PLZ RT!

(Call me, Historical Royal Palaces, I’ve got more!)

One day, King Henry would take “Defender of the Faith” out of his Twitter bio, and another day he’d unfollow Thomas Moore,  and it would all be downhill from there. Even with Twitter.

— Quoted text from Henry VIII Twitters from 1509 – Brand Republic News – Brand Republic. —