THE QUEEN ELIZABETH MEETS POPE FRANCIS ON HER VISIT TO ROME.

Life became a bit of a picnic for Pope Francis on Thursday when the Queen presented him with a luxury hamper during her historic visit to the Vatican - and in return he gave her an orb for Prince George.

The monarch and her husband Prince Philip had a private audience with the pontiff, the fifth she has met, for 17 minutes. Smiling brightly, she apologised to the Holy See after she was 20 minutes late.

The hamper contained 18 items from Buckingham Palace, Windsor, Sandringham and Balmoral including two types of honey, a bottle of whiskey, 'Coronation Best Bitter, 'Grandad's chutney' and 'Sandringham handmade aromatherapy soaps'.

In return the Pope presented the Queen with a lapis lazuli orb - a semi-precious stone - decorated with a silver cross of Edward the Confessor, the 11th Century English King who was made a saint, as a gift for the eight-month-old prince, with an inscription on the base that read ‘Pope Francis, to His Royal Highness Prince George of Cambridge’.

The royal couple gave the Pope a huge hamper filled with goods from royal estates, including a bottle of whiskey. In return he gave them a lapis lazuli orb for eight-month-old great-grandson George

The Queen and her staff with the Pope in the Vatican

The Queen and Pope beam at the cameras 

The Pope shakes hands with his Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh in the Pope's study

The Pope smiles as the Queen and the Duke of Edingburgh describe the products in the hamper they presented to him

The box Prince George's present came in

Pope Francis, the Queen and Prince Philip talk at the Vatican while seated on elegant red chairs

The meeting between the Pope and monarch was very friendly in nature

The Queen had been scheduled to visit Italy last year but the trip had to be postponed because she was unwell

The lapis lazuli orb for Prince George is inscribed with 'Pope Francis, to His Royal Highness Prince George of Cambridge'

The Argentine-born pope presented the queen with the gift, saying it's for 'el ninetto' - a term of endearment for a little child. Elizabeth said George 'will be thrilled by that'. A split-second later - perhaps after considering the heavy stone orb topped with a sharp cross - she added: 'When he's a little older'. The royal couple were also presented with a reproduction of a decree by Pope Innocent XI issued in 1679 which elevated Edward the Confessor into a saint for the Catholic Church. A separate gift was presented to the Duke of Edinburgh of three papal medals in gold, silver and bronze. He joked: ‘It's the only gold medal I have ever won.’ She arrived this afternoon, late after a private lunch at the Quirinal Palace in Rome with Italy's president Giorgio Napolitano, wearing a lilac-colored spring coat and matching hat that are practically the same colors as the wisteria blooming over much of the Italian capital. Elizabeth told the pope that the jar of honey in the wicker picnic hamper 'is from my garden' at Buckingham Palace. 'I hope that is unusual for you.' Francis looked startled when the prince at one point held up a bottle of Balmoral whiskey, from the royal estate in Scotland. Among the gifts were a bottle of cider and a dozen eggs. A Vatican official said the pope would likely share the food with other residents of the guest house where he has lived since his election after renouncing the spacious papal apartments or would donate it. 

Touch down: The Queen and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh are welcomed by Archbishop Francesco Canalini (left) as they arrive at Ciampino Airport, near Rome ahead of the meeting with Pope Francis

The Queen walks beside Pope Francis during the landmark meeting

The Queen smiles with Pope Francis

Homeward bound: The Queen Elizabeth looks through an airplane's window at Ciampino airport, near Rome, after the meeting with the Pope

The Queen waves goodbye through her private plane's window

The informal meeting with the head of the Roman Catholic Church was not held in the Apostolic Palace at the Vatican but in the Pope's Study, part of a suite of rooms within the Pope Paul VI Audience Hall.

The hall is close to the Casa Santa Marta, the guest house in the Vatican where the Pope has chosen to live.

The Queen shook hands with the leader of the Catholic Church and said: ‘Sorry to keep you waiting, we were having lunch with the president’, before heading into a private meeting with the pontiff.

Through a translator Pope Francis explained in Spanish that King Edward, who is buried in Westminster Abbey, had been made a saint in 1161, nearly a century after his death, reported the Daily Telegraph.

'Oh he was canonised was he?' the Duke of Edinburgh exclaimed. The Queen added: 'That’s very kind, how very interesting.' 

It is the Queen's seventh encounter with a head of the Roman Catholic Church. She previously met Pope Pius XII at the Vatican when she was Princess Elizabeth in 1951. 

She also met Pope John XXIII in 1961 and Pope John Paul II in 1980, 1982 and 2000. The meeting in 1980 made history after the Queen became the first British monarch to make a state visit to the Vatican. The Queen also met Pope Benedict XVI in Edinburgh at the start of his 2010 visit to Britain.

The audience with Pope Francis was the fifth meeting The Queen, who is head of the Church of the England, has held with a Pope in the Vatican

 

The Queen and Prince Philip arrive at the Paul VI Hall for the meeting with Pope Francis

Stately: The Queen and Italian President Giorgio Napolitano walk past Courrassiers presidential guards inside the Quirinale Presidential Palace on Thursday

Grand occasion: Italian President Giorgio Napolitano, left, and The Queen walk in the courtyard of the Quirinale Presidential Palace after listening to the national anthems

Ready and waiting: Pope Francis arrives together with Father Leonardo Sapienza to meet The Queen

Long time coming: The journey to Rome is the 87-year-old monarch's first foreign trip since 2011

The Queen had been scheduled to visit Italy last year but the trip had to be postponed because she was unwell.

The visit - described as 'part private, part official' - comes in the centenary year of the re-establishment of diplomatic relations between the Holy See and the British Government in 1914 after they were broken off in the 16th century.

The Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh and Pope Francis were assisted by an interpreter during the private audience. 

It is believed that the 77-year-old Argentine-born Pope - who once described himself as from the 'ends of the earth' - has never visited Britain.

Nigel Baker, British Ambassador to the Holy See, said: 'The visit of her Majesty the Queen to the Vatican and the audience with Pope Francis is a reaffirmation of the strength of the bilateral relationship between the United Kingdom and the Holy See in a year in which we celebrate the centenary of the re-establishment of diplomatic relations with the Holy See.'

The meeting between the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh and the Pope has been described as a 'private conversation'.

On Italian soil: The Queen steps down from her flight, followed by Prince Philip

The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh arrive at The Quirinale Palace where they are met by the President of Italy, President Napolitano

Support: Royal fans display a banner while they await the arrival of The in Rome

As Archbishop of Buenos Aires, the Pope attended a ceremony marking the defeat of Argentina in the Falklands War where he was reported as having described the Argentinian dead as having 'set out to defend their mother, the homeland, to claim the country that is theirs and that was usurped'.

But Vatican officials have made it clear that the Pope will remain neutral on the issue.

Asked to comment on the Falkland Islands, Mr Baker said: 'The Vatican has been clear with us including in the last week and at a very senior level that their long standing position of neutrality on the issue remains in force.'

The Queen was presented with a bouquet at the airport by the eight-year-old daughter of a British Embassy member of staff made of flowers from the garden of the British Ambassador's residence in Rome.

Back to black: A look back at the Queen's previous Papal meetings

When the Queen met the Pope in Italy, the relaxed event had a very different feel from her previous encounters with the Pontiff on Italian soil.

This time, the Queen did not wear black or a veil, as she has done on other visits.

In 1980 when meeting Pope John Paul II in Rome, she dressed entirely in black in keeping with Vatican protocol, with a tiara holding a cascade veil in place, just as she had done on her visit to Pope John XXIII in 1961.

Sombre outfit: The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh moving through the halls of the Vatican Palace in 1951 to the apartment of Pope Pius XII

The Queen pictured with Pope John in the Vatican in 1961

In 2000, the Queen wore black again, but with a hat and a shorter veil. This was despite royal tradition that female members of the royal family do not wear black other than when in mourning.

Before the visit, Buckingham Palace confirmed the Queen would not wear black or a mantilla - a lace veil - this time. A spokeswoman said: ‘It is in keeping with the informal nature of the visit.’

In 1951, when she was Princess Elizabeth, she meet Pope Pius XII and wore a floor length black gown with a long black veil.

In September 2010, Pope Benedict XVI made the first ever official Papal visit to Britain. Pope John Paul II's 1982 trip to the UK was a pastoral one.

Pope John Paul II receiving Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip at the Vatican during a State visit in 1980

Since the Queen's last meeting with a Pope in 2010, the monarchy's relationship with Catholicism has altered - with a partial end to the 300-year-old discrimination against those of the Catholic faith.

The introduction of the Succession to the Crown Act 2013, which comes into force once it is approved by all 15 Commonwealth countries where the Queen is head of state, means that members of the royal family who marry a Catholic no longer lose their place in line to the throne.

But the current prohibition on the monarch being a Catholic still remains in force.

Meetings between the royal family and Catholic popes are usually events full of tradition, drama and sometimes humour.

Heartfelt: Queen Elizabeth II exchanging presents with Pope John Paul II during an audience at the Vatican in Rome, Italy, in 2000

Intrigue: The Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip show Pope John Paul II a book with 50 reproductions from Canaletto prints at the end of their private audience in the Vatican in 2000 It is said Queen Mary disliked wearing black so much she arrived with George V for an audience with Pope Pius XI in 1923 in a white dress complete with a pearl necklace and choker. During an audience with John Paul II, Princess Diana asked the Pope about a wound he suffered in an assassination attempt a few years before, but he misinterpreted it amusingly. Quoted in his biography the Prince of Wales wrote that his wife ‘...patted her tummy to indicate where he had been shot, but he didn't seem to understand what she was saying and replied with a beatific smile that she was the creator of life and seemed to bless her tummy - presumably, Diana surmised, because he mistook her as saying she was pregnant.’ The Queen and the Pope are meeting during Lent, traditionally a time of fasting and reflection.
Source: Mail Online