In November 2015, Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland will grace the most famous of the Mediterranean archipelagos with her presence! A teen language study trip to Malta —will it be an opportunity to catch a glimpse of the Queen? A look back at the event with LEC.
A visit that has been seven years in the making
The most famous of all queens had not visited the archipelago in seven years. The people of Malta will therefore be awaiting Elizabeth II with undisguised anticipation in the fall of 2015. The great-grandmother of the very young George will visit the republic accompanied by her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, according to an official statement from Buckingham Palace.
A meeting held under the auspices of the Commonwealth of Nations
A language study trip to Malta for the Queen and her husband? Not exactly: Elizabeth II will fly over France and Italy to attend a meeting of heads of government from the Commonwealth of Nations, an organization that includes Canada, Australia, Cyprus, the United Kingdom, and Malta. At the last such meeting, held in Sri Lanka, the Queen sent her son. A tireless traveler, Prince Charles will also visit Malta in 2015, accompanied by his wife, Camilla Parker-Bowles.
Souvenirs for the Queen
For the Queen, her trip to Malta is likely to evoke a touch of nostalgia. Indeed, the Queen is no stranger to the archipelago’s landscapes, having stayed there… in the mid-20th century. Between 1949 and 1951, Elizabeth—who was not yet Queen but “merely” a princess—spent long periods in Malta, waiting for her husband, a naval officer. The daughter of King George VI seems to have retained a deep attachment to Malta to this day. The proof: in 2007, it was there that she and her husband celebrated their diamond wedding anniversary—marking 60 years of marriage!