She sends text messages, has her own YouTube channel, podcasts her Christmas speech and also emails -not bad for an octogenarian (person in her eighties) - Especially considering that this hi-tech senior is none other than Queen Elizabeth II, one of the Britain's oldest and longest reigning monarchs.

While the 83-year old Queen, known for her penchant for hats, may look like an unlikely adopter of technology, it appears as though she has always been a leader in adopting new trends. It started with her coronation in 1952, when she broadcast the ceremony on television, something that was uncommon in those days.

Though she didn't start using the computer until about three years ago, she has come up the learning curve faster than most of us. In 2006 she podcasted her annual Christmas speech and in 2007, encouraged by her granddaughters, Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie, she launched The Royal Channel, on YouTube - which posts videos of all Royal events. Now the hi-tech Queen is in the news again - this time for sending out e-mails.

To celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Commonwealth - a group of 53 countries, 16 of which consider Queen Elizabeth II, their monarch - Palace officials decided on a theme entitled 'Serving a New Generation'. Accordingly, they asked children from countries that are part of the commonwealth to write a blog (online essay) about their day-to-day lives, as well as, what they thought of the Commonwealth.

Twenty-three young adults and kids ranging from Belize to Australia responded to the Queen's request, sending pictures and other details about their lives. The Queen, who is used to being talked to quite formally, was surprised to see the casual tone of the blogs.

One 12-year old Australian girl who referred to the monarch as ' The Boss', asked her to come visit so they could chat about swapping her home in the Austrlian outback with the Queen's Palace.

The Queen decided she would be as 'casual' and reply to all 23 personally. The reply e-mails were entitled 'A message from Her Majesty the Queen' and simply signed Elizabeth R. While the message itself is quite boring and impersonal, it is a big deal because while the queen communicates with her friends and family via e-mail, she has never before written to the 'general public' in such a casual manner.

However, this may be just the beginning of the queen's casualness. It is rumored that Prince Harry has taught her how send text messages - And if that isn't enough, President Obama and the first lady recently gave the 83-year old, her very own iPod - We wonder what her her playlist contains!

Sources: telegraph.co.uk, BBCnews.com, norepublic.co.au