Queen Elizabeth II with Prime Minister Amintore Fanfani at the Opera House in Rome in 1961
Photo: colaimages / Alamy Stock Photo
It was love at first sight: Queen Elizabeth II visited Italy a total of four times during her lifetime - but the Queen of Great Britain's first visit began with a faux pas.
When Elizabeth II and Prince Philip arrived in Rome in 1961, thousands of people cheered on the streets: shouts of "Viva la regina", long live the Queen - goosebumps! A grandiose reception for Her Majesty, until President Giovanni Gronchi grabs her by the elbow without being asked during the photo session - a first-class affront for the British!
Photo: PA Images / Alamy Stock Photo
3,000 guests at the state banquet
The first royal visit to Italy ends up being a historic event: at the state banquet, 20,000 people shout "Elisabetta! Filippo!" for an hour. Inside, 3,000 invited guests from Italian high society await the British royal couple.
The Italian media rave about the Queen's glamorous glittering appearance. During the second trip in 1981, British-Italian relations are strengthened. There are a series of informal meetings that make the Queen very popular.
Photo: colaimages / Alamy Stock Photo
Elizabeth II does not want garlic
Italy's star chefs are piqued by the Queen's third visit in 2000: the list of special requests for what the Queen does NOT want in her food: "Long noodles", meaning spaghetti, tomato sauce, garlic, no hot spices, onions, shellfish and certainly nothing exotic - in other words, almost everything that makes food from Italy so delicious. The state dinner ends with ravioli and scallopine, thinly roasted slices of veal. According to the stories, it's delicious.
In Italy, too, the eccentric royal consort Prince Philip (†2021) unerringly puts his foot in his mouth. In 2000, the royal eccentric gave the then President of the Republic Carlo Azeglio Ciampi an antiquarian edition of John Moore's book "A View of Society and Banners in Italy" from 1781.
This is how the Queen is celebrated in Italy in 1961
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More InformationHis descriptions of the Italians at the time are rather stereotypical and, from today's perspective, quite insulting. Like Prince Philip's joke to his hosts about the Italian tanks being 'the only ones with six gears' - one slow forward gear and five fast reverse gears.
For their four-day visit, the royal couple travelled to Rome with 300 kilos of luggage - and ended up packing even more. In accordance with security protocol, the Queen also has all the rubbish packed.
Historic visit to the Pope
Queen Elizabeth II is the first British monarch to visit not only Italy but also the Vatican City State since 1923. In 1527, the English King Henry VIII famously founded his own church, the Anglican Church, after the then Pope Clement VII refused to grant him an annulment.
Since then, the current British King or Queen has also been the head of the Anglican Church. In 1951, Elizabeth II - then still a princess - visited Italy for the first time. In addition to a lunch with the then Italian President Luigi Einaudi (†1961), she also had a private audience with Pope John XXIII (†1963). During her last visit to Italy in 2014, she met Pope Francesco.
