July 10 (Bloomberg) -- Twitter, known for celebrity gossip, drunken messages and nonstandard English, is now also home to Queen Elizabeth II.

The British monarchy started what it called a “Royal Twitter” account that will be run by the Web teams at royal residences Buckingham Palace and Clarence House, according to its Web site today. By 12:10 p.m. New York time, the Twitter account had more than 2,000 followers.

“The account will update followers on Royal engagements and announcements,” according to the monarchy’s Web site.

Twitter has attracted other well-known figures, including pop star Britney Spears, President Barack Obama, talk-show host Oprah Winfrey, and Sarah Palin, who resigned as governor of Alaska last week. It drew an estimated 17.6 million users in the U.S. in May, a more than 27-fold increase from a year earlier, according to research firm ComScore Inc. in Reston, Virginia.

Twitter Inc., founded in 2006, lets users post messages, or Tweets, of up to 140 characters. The San Francisco-based service also allows users to attach links to photos or other Web sites.

The monarchy’s Tweets included the changing of the guard at Windsor Castle, and the queen knighting someone at Buckingham Palace.

To contact the reporter on this story: Brian Womack in San Francisco at bwomack1@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: July 10, 2009 13:34 EDT