Prince Andrew has defended his decision to join Twitter and says it is the best way to communicate with young people.

Prince Andrew has defended his decision to join Twitter

The Duke of York - who is the second son of Queen Elizabeth II - became the first member of the Royal family to join the networking site in February this year and says that social media is the best method for him to communicate with young people.

He told Tania Bryer, host of CNBC Meets: "If you're trying to encourage young people to be enterprising and think about entrepreneurship, and think about these things, how are the young communicating? They're communicating on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn.

"It (the Twitter feed) is far less about me personally, it's far more about the Office and what we're doing. We've probably taken it to what I would describe as a slightly more commercial level than other members of the royal family."

The 54 year old - who launched the charity iDEA, to encourage young people to build their digital skills and test business ideas earlier this year - insists the press have a "100 percent right" to criticise his decision to join the site but he feels it was his "responsibility" to tweet for the benefit of today's youths.

He explained: "I think that you live with the rough and you live with the smooth. We live in a society where there is freedom of speech, everybody's entitled to their opinion one way or the other. But I know the work that I'm doing is for the benefit, or for the larger benefit of young people, the U.K., and I have a level of duty and responsibility."

by for www.femalefirst.co.uk
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