Former Palace communications secretary Simon Lewis outlined the late Duke of Edinburgh's 1998 digital ambitions

Prince Philip outlined a forward-thinking "vision" in 1998 for harnessing the internet to make the monarchy more accessible to audiences around the globe, a former Palace aide has disclosed.

Simon Lewis, who became the first communications secretary at Buckingham Palace that year, has revealed the late Duke of Edinburgh's digital ambitions.

Philip's enthusiasm for technology was already well documented. Still, Mr Lewis's account sheds new light on how the late duke recognised the World Wide Web's potential to help the Royal Family connect directly with the public during a particularly sensitive period - the aftermath of Princess Diana's death in August 1997.

Mr Lewis described how Queen Elizabeth II had performed "an amazing job" in the wake of Diana's death, praising her steadiness.

"The Queen, first of all, held her nerve on behalf of the institution, the family, and the Queen got out there and did what she always did best, which was just connecting with people in a very Queen-like way," he said.

He gave particular credit to Philip's digital foresight at a time when just 100 million people were online worldwide.

"I sat with him once, and he laid out for me a vision for using the web, the internet, to make the Royal Family much more accessible globally," Mr Lewis continued to tell The Royals podcast produced by The Times.

Many at the Palace were sceptical. "A lot of people thought, 'It's another one of his ideas. We'll pop it in the bottom drawer,'" he said. "But he was right. Wow."

Mr Lewis described the royal website, which he oversaw during his tenure, as "the fundamental rebasing of the relationship," enabling the public to access information about the institution directly rather than relying solely on traditional media.

The monarchy's first website went live in March 1997, when the internet was still in its infancy. Today, more than six billion people are online worldwide.

Royal household figures demonstrate just how dramatically the digital landscape has shifted in the Crown's favour. Social media impressions on official royal posts reached 2.1 billion in 2025-26, a sharp rise from 1.3 billion the previous year.

Official royal videos attracted 432 million views over the same period, up from 397 million a year earlier.

Mr Lewis maintained that Philip was the first figure within the Palace to grasp the internet's power to promote the monarchy on the world stage.

Mr Lewis was a public relations executive at Centrica, the energy company, and joined the Palace on secondment from 1998 to 2000.

His appointment came amid widespread criticism of how the Royal Family had handled Diana's death, with many feeling the late Queen had been too slow to respond publicly.

Before he took up the role, Lord Robin Janvrin, the incoming principal private secretary to the late Queen, offered a shrewd piece of guidance: avoid starting on the first anniversary of Diana's death.

"Robin said a quiet word. He said: 'If I was you, I wouldn't come until the 1st of September, because anything that happens on that day, you'll be held responsible for,'" Mr Lewis recalled.

"And that was very clever and wise advice, and it wasn't the last piece of wise advice."

Mr Lewis subsequently went on to advise Gordon Brown during his premiership.