The Queen's Two State Visits to the Vatican

One fact that hasn’t so far emerged from the Pope’s first state visit to Britain is that it follows two state visits to the Vatican by the Queen.

Not every visit the Queen makes is a state one: during the Jubilee Year she met John Paul II at the Vatican as a courtesy after making a state visit to Italy.

But in 1961 she made a state visit to Vatican City where she met John XXIII, and in 1980 she made another one to meet John Paul II.

As diplomacy is all about reciprocity, it was only natural that a state visit eventually be extended to the Pope.

The question which perhaps really should be asked, therefore, is why it has taken so long.