The royal family are adapting to new methods of communication just like the rest of us.
On Tuesday, the Queen turned 94 years old, and was forced to celebrate the event very differently to most years, due to the Coronavirus pandemic.
The royal asked for no traditional gun salutes from Hyde Park and the Tower of London and the Trooping the Colour celebration, usually scheduled for the summer, has also been cancelled.
The Queen would have also not have been able to see certain members of her family due to social distancing regulations, meaning other ways of communicating were necessary.
Complying with this was Prince Harry and Meghan Markle who reportedly video called the monarch to wish her a happy birthday.
According to reports citing a confirmation by the couple's representatives, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, who are currently residing in Los Angeles, spoke to the Queen around her tea time to allow for time difference. The couple's son Archie - who turns one next month - also appeared on the call.
The Sussexes were one of several groups of relatives who video called the monarch - who is isolating with husband the Duke of Edinburgh at Windsor Castle - to wish her many happy returns.
Last week, in an interview with the BBC, Kate Middleton and Prince William spoke about adjusting to new ways of communication with family members during lockdown.
'As you can imagine, the younger generation are a little more tech-savvy,' William joked. 'The family are getting a little bit more used to being able to contact each other and press the right buttons and not dropping the computer half way through.
'It's so true,' Kate agreed. 'And I think your father and my parents and our families have really loved keeping in touch with the children because they know it's really hard... I'm not going to lie, it gets a bit hectic with the two-year-old,' to which William explained that Louis is always tempted to press the red button.
The Cambridges also shared a public tribute to the leader of the royal family with an Instagram post of the couple with William's grandmother at the Chelsea Flower show.
Similarly, Prince Charles - who has recently been recuperating after testing positive for Coronavirus - shared a black and white photo of himself as a baby in his cot being tended to by his mother.
The Sussexes did not make a public tribute to the Queen, however this is most likely because Harry and Meghan have effectively retired their 'Sussex Royal' Instagram account, as they establish their new roles (which assumedly incorporates a social media presence) after dropping the 'royal' part of their persona since becoming financially independent from the monarchy.
The couple are in the process of setting up their non-profit foundation Archewell, however plans have been put on the backburner as they instead focus on supporting efforts surrounding the Covid-19 outbreak and global relief effort.
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Olivia Blair is Entertainment Editor (Luxury) at Hearst UK, working across ELLE, Esquire and Harper's Bazaar. Olivia covers all things entertainment and has interviewed the likes of Margot Robbie, Emma Stone, Michaela Coel and Ryan Gosling over the years.
