The Queen's First Visit to Pope Francis

In all of the news I've read about the swift 17 minute visit which The Queen made to the Pope last week (her first visit to him), a lot of it centred around the sharing of gifts.

What did Pope Francis give The Queen?

The Pope gave Prince George's grandparents a gift for him to take home with them - an orb in lapis lazuli featuring the cross of St Edward. "He will be thrilled by that," said the Queen, with a short pause, "when he is a little older."

Maybe this should have been accompanied by a smaller version made into a rattle – maybe a little more appropriate for his age!

The Queen was given a copy of a papal decree from 1679 making Edward the Confessor a saint of the universal Catholic church – what will she do with that I wonder?

And the Duke was given three pontifical medals in bronze, silver and gold. With typical wit Prince Philip apparently quipped "It's the only gold medal I've ever won."

What did The Queen give the Pope?

Personally I think the gifts which The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh gave Pope Francis were charming, perfectly understated, unique and spot-on for the occasion AND the recipient.

It’s well-know that the Pope has a refreshing approach to his role as Head of the Roman Catholic Church – he lives in a guesthouse with basic furnishings rather than the apostolic palace which previous Popes have called home, and gets driven around in second-hand cars. So the gifts he received reflected this and it’s lovely to hear reports that Pope Francis intends to give some of the gifts to Rome’s poor.

The Queen gave the Pope a hamper full of produce from her 4 residences.

From ‘her garden’ aka Buckingham Palace:

- Honey

From our own town, Windsor:

- Honey
- Coronation Best Bitter
- 12 eggs
- Rib of beef
- Haunch of venison

From Sandringham:

- Cox's apple juice, Sandringham cider, blackcurrant cordial, quince jelly, plum conserve. Grandad's chutney, apple and tomato relish, Sandringham handmade aromatherapy soaps

From Balmoral:

- Shortbread, Balmoral whisky, Worcestershire berry jelly, strawberry jam
From Fortnum & Mason:
Irish breakfast tea, Welsh rarebit smackerels

"I hope that will be unusual for you," she asked the Pope. He apparently looked very pleased, so it was clearly a good choice!

Now it's all steam ahead for the Irish State Visit on 8 April 2014. The Queen is a very busy lady!

*Photograph: Arthur Edwards/The Sun/PA