Queen Elizabeth ends meeting with pope, leaves for airport
Monarch lunches with Italian president before seeing Francis
03 April, 16:15
(See related)
(ANSA) - Rome, April 3 - Following a 40-minute private
meeting with Pope Francis inside the Vatican Thursday, Queen
Elizabeth II and her husband Prince Philip, the duke of
Edinburgh, left in their motorcade and headed for the airport to
return home.The royal couple arrived about 20 minutes late for their first meeting with Francis, who was sworn in just over a year ago. The 87-year-old queen had been scheduled to visit Rome in March 2013, but that was cancelled due to a gastrointestinal illness that sent her to hospital briefly.
The informal meeting at the Vatican came shortly after the royal couple had lunch with Italian President Giorgio Napolitano at the Quirinal palace.
