Focus on a family as Palace posts photos of royals on Flickr

Images showing recent royal events and archive pictures of the Queen, Prince of Wales, Princes William and Harry and other members of the monarchy can be viewed from today.

More than 600 photographs have been added to the British Monarchy's Photostream account and the images will be continuously updated as new engagements and events take place.

The development is the latest move by the monarchy to stay up to date with technological innovations and follows the launch of the updated royal website and British Monarchy Twitter account last year and the Royal Channel on YouTube in 2007.

The Flickr initiative is timed to coincide with the summer opening of Buckingham Palace as the site features photographs commissioned for the exhibition The Queen's Year, which opens tomorrow.

Highlights from the photo website include early pictures of Queen Victoria and other leading figures from the era, images of the present Queen as a baby and up-to-date pictures of the latest royal events.

There are also behind-the-scenes shots showing Royal Household staff at work at a state banquet and images by photographer Marcus Adams showing royal children – from the Queen as a baby to Charles as a little boy.

Harry is shown as a newborn baby, in the arms of his mother Diana, Princess of Wales, as an Eton schoolboy, patrolling in Afghanistan and on a recent visit to a charity which trains dogs to help disabled people.

William is pictured as a youngster with his parents and sibling, on exercise with the Royal Navy in the Caribbean and meeting David Beckham in South Africa.