Pope Francis greeted Queen Elizabeth II and her husband, Prince Philip, on their visit to the Vatican on April 3
Queen Elizabeth II exchanged gifts with Pope Francis in the pontiff's study
Prince Philip hoisting a bottle of Scotch Whisky made on royal family's Balmoral Estate.
The queen walked alongside the pope. She was originally due to travel to Rome a year ago, but the visit was postponed due to her ill health.
The one-day trip was the first time Queen Elizabeth had met Pope Francis.
Pope Francis is the fifth pontiff the queen has met; the first was Pope Pius XII, in 1951, a year before her accession to the throne.
A Swiss guard watched as Queen Elizabeth II passed through the Vatican.
Pope Francis waved after Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip left the Vatican.
The queen waved goodbye to Pope Francis.
Britain's Queen Elizabeth II meets with Pope Francis at the Vatican on Thursday, April 3. Over the years, she has also met many of his papal predecessors.
Two of the world's best-known public figures, Pope Francis and Britain's Queen Elizabeth II, met for the first time Thursday in Rome.
The Queen, accompanied by her husband, Prince Philip, exchanges gifts with Pope Benedict XVI in Edinburgh, Scotland, in September 2010.
The Queen, accompanied by husband Prince Philip, is paying a one-day visit to Italy at the invitation of Italian President Giorgio Napolitano.
The Queen shakes hands with Pope John Paul II at the Pope's private office in October 2000.
She and the Duke of Edinburgh attended a lunch hosted by Napolitano, whose role as head of state is largely symbolic, at the presidential palace before heading to Vatican City.
Pope John Paul II walks with the Queen at London's Buckingham Palace in May 1982.
The private audience with Pope Francis was the first meeting between the 87-year-old queen, who is Supreme Governor of the Church of England, and Pope Francis, head of the Roman Catholic Church.
The Queen and Prince Philip meet Pope John Paul ll for the first time in October 1980.
But she has met some of his papal predecessors.
The Queen and Prince Philip are pictured with Pope John XXIII at the Vatican in 1961.
According to Vatican Radio, Thursday's audience marked the queen's seventh encounter with a pontiff and the fifth different pope she has met. Besides trips to Rome, she also welcomed Pope John Paul II and Benedict XVI, now Pope Emeritus, on their respective visits to Britain.
The Queen, then as Princess Elizabeth, poses for a group photo with her entourage, Vatican knights and Swiss Guards following a talk with Pope Pius XII in April 1951
Her first papal encounter was with Pope Pius in 1951, the year before she ascended the throne, the broadcaster said.
The Queen's latest visit to Italy, at the invitation of Napolitano, was initially planned last year but was postponed because of illness.
Britain's ambassador to the Holy See, Nigel Baker, told Vatican Radio the Queen had decided to take advantage of the rescheduled trip to meet Pope Francis.
"If you look back in terms of Queen Elizabeth's reign, it is extraordinary how far the relationship between Britain and the Holy See, and between the Anglican Church and the Catholic Church, has developed since 1952 when she became queen," he said.
A key aspect of that has been her several encounters with different popes over the years, Baker said.
Francis, who's from Argentina, was elected pope in March of last year after Benedict took the almost unprecedented step of resigning from the papacy.
Britain and Argentina have a sometimes testy relationship, thanks to an unresolved dispute over the Falkland Islands. The two countries went to war over the South Atlantic territory in 1982 after the then-military government in Argentina landed troops on the islands, which Argentinians call Las Malvinas.
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