Her Majesty Queen Elisabeth II has met Pope Francis for the first time, during a one-day visit to Rome, the BBC reports.
The meeting in the Vatican was described as a private one and pomp and protocol were kept to a minimum.
Earlier the Queen and Prince Philip had lunch with the Italian President, Giorgio Napolitano, and his wife Clio at the Quirinal Palace.
It is the Queen’s first foreign trip since a visit to Australia in 2011.
The Queen and Prince Philip were due to have tea with the Pope in a suite of rooms in the Pope Paul VI Audience Hall, close to the Casa Santa Marta, the guest house in the Vatican where the Pope has chosen to live.
It is her third visit to the Vatican during her reign but the first time she has met Pope Francis, who was installed just over a year ago.
