April visitor: Queen Elizabeth meets Pope Francis for the first time

 
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Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh met Pope Francis for the first time on Thursday. Wearing a lavender dress and a purple hat, as she handed the pontiff delights from the royal estates. They include dozen of eggs and a bottle of whisky. "I've also brought something from all our estates, which is for you personally," said the queen. She also gave Pope Francis a wicker basket full of food at the end of a 17-minute private meeting in the Vatican. Pope Francis also gave the queen a gift for her eight-month-old great-grandson, Prince George of Cambridge. It was a sphere made of lapis lazuli, a deep blue semi-precious stone, topped with the silver cross of St. Edward.  "He will be thrilled by it," the queen told the pope. Then she paused and added: "When he is a little older".  The meeting was in a modern room attached to the Vatican's audience hall without much of the ceremonial pomp that usually accompanies such visits.