POPE RECEIVES PRINCESS

Press, Volume LXXXVII, Issue 26397, 16 April 1951, Page 7

POPE RECEIVES PRINCESS

Royal Visitors To Vatican

VATICAN CITY, April 18. Princess Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh to-day drove to the Vatican City to be received in audience by Pope Piua. The Princess wore blacK with a black lace veil over her head. Clusters of people clapped the Royal couple on their way to the Vatican. The Pope’s Court had drawn up a special protocol for their reception. It was similar to that used in 1018 when the Duke of Windsor, then Prince of Wales, was received by Pope Benedict XV.

To-day’s ceremonial was less grandiose than that used when' King Edward VII in 1903 and King George V and Queen Mary in 1923 were received in audience, but it was more solemn than when Princess Margaret visited the Pope in 1949. At tne Vatican, Princess Elizabeth inspected a guard of honour furnished by a picket of the Pope’s Palatine Guard. Monsignor Banniamino Nardone, Chief of Vatical Ceremonial, then led her to her position in the procession to the Pope's private apartments. At the top of the staircase in the Clementine Hall, the Princess was received by the Chief of the Pope's Household (Monsignor Frederico Gallon) and other members of the Papal Court. The procession continued to the Pope’s private library, where the Pope received Princess Elizabeth alone. She then presented the Duke of Edinburgh and other members of her suite to the Pope. The Pope asked after the Royal couple’s children and sent his respects to King George and Queen Elizabeth. After the audience the Princess and the Duke were led by court prelates round the most historic parts of the Vatican.