Thursday 3 April 2014

Queens at the Quirinale

Elizabeth II will visit Rome today at the invitation of President Giorgio Napolitano of Italy.  The Queen will have an audience with the president and a private lunch at the Palazzo del Quirinale.  Queen Elizabeth II will be the first queen regnant to meet the president this year but Giorgio Napolitano has already welcomed two consorts to Italy's presidential palace.  2014 has been the year of queens at the Quirinale.


Elizabeth II will visit Rome today and have lunch at the Palazzo del Quirinale

First to visit was Queen Maxima of the Netherlands when she paid an introductory visit to Italy with King Willem-Alexander on January 23rd 2014.  The couple were received at the Quirinale by the president at an official reception before moving to the Chigi Palace for lunch with politicians.


Maxima of the Netherlands was the first queen to visit the Quirinale in Rome this year

Less than a month later, the newest queen in Europe was being welcomed to the Palazzo by President Napolitano.  Mathilde of the Belgians was making her own introductory visit to Rome at the side of her husband, King Philippe, on February 20th 2014.


Queen Mathilde of the Belgians with King Philippe during her visit to Rome in February 2014

The Belgian queen walked the corridors of the Quirinale in the footsteps of Italy's last consort- the Belgian princess Marie Jose who married the heir to the country's throne, Umberto, in 1930 and became queen in May 1946 but reigned for just one month before the monarchy was abolished in a referendum in June 1946.  The Palazzo del Quirinale was the home of Italy's monarchs but welcomed Queen Marie Jose for just a few weeks.


Marie-Jose of Belgium, seen with her husband Umberto, was the last Queen of Italy

Today it is the residence of the President of Italy and so will be the place where he welcomes Europe's longest serving monarch.  President Napolitano is the continent's oldest head of state - he is just under a year older than Elizabeth II - and had hoped to host the Queen last year but her visit then was postponed due to her illness.  Today she becomes the first regnant this year to visit Italy and the third queen at the Quirinale.






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