[Holy See] Communique to United Kingdom

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Unto: Mark Pellew, UK Ambassador to the Holy See ( Jamie )
From: Raymond Cardinal Burke, Secretary of State to His Holiness

Greetings,

His Holiness Hadrianus VII has expressed to me that he would like to have his first private audience with Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, as she is the titular head of the Anglican Communion. The purpose of this audience would be to mend bridges and try and start settling the English Question. Please feel free to contact me should you have any questions, items to add to the agenda, or any logistical concerns.


Yours in Faith,

<Signed>
Raymond Burke
Secretary of State of His Holiness

 

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Jamie

 

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Jamie

 

[Jamie]

UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND NORTHERN IRELAND
Security Classification: TOP SECRET

To: Raymond Cardinal Burke, Secretary of State to His Holiness Ender
Cc: royal.enquiries@royal.gsx.gov.uk
Subject: Re: Private Audience

Firstly, I apologise for the delay in providing you with a response. I have been conversing with my government to discussion arrangements with the Royal Household for a private audience between Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and His Holiness Hadrianus VII.

Following these conversations, Her Majesty would be able to commit to a visit of The Holy See at any of the following dates:

April 2002
August 2002
February 2003

Please let me know if any of these are within your schedule and we can begin arrangements. Due to the nature of Her Majestys position, safety is paramount. Therefore, if this was to go ahead we would require a number of reassurances:

- Aircraft from the Royal Air Force would be used as the mode of transport with armed personnel on-board as part of a force protection detail. These will remain with the aircraft for the duration of the visit.

- The Queen and her aides shall be permitted to have a close protection detail nearby, provided by the United Kingdoms Special Forces. These can be covert and their arms concealed.

- A schedule must be provided in advance of the visit, detailing locations, routes and timescales of where the Queen should be at all times. This will allow security efforts to detect any irregularities.

Furthermore, with the military standing of the Holy See, we will be stationing air-to-air combat aircraft at our oversea base in Cyprus. These will act as quick reaction alert for any concerns surrounding the Queens visit.
We would request authorization that these carry out patrols overhead at the time.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Kindest Regards,
Mark Pellew

Mark Pellew | UK Ambassador to the Holy See |

 

[Jamie]

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Unto: Mark Pellew, UK Ambassador to the Holy See (Jamie )
From: Raymond Cardinal Burke, Secretary of State to His Holiness

Greetings,

We thank you and your monarch for being amenable to the Request of His Holiness. At this time we are open to either date, but April would be the best to fit into our schedule. If it is amenable to both parties I feel that we should either open or close our talks on April 23rd the Feat of Saint George. As for security we are more the amenable to the participation of the Royal Airforce and the Queen’s ’Gardes de la Manche’. Though we would feel more comfortable if those guards are unarmed or very minimally so, as weapons are usually only allowed within the walls of the Vatican in the hands of the Swiss Guard by long standing tradition. Which is something I am sure you can understand.

As for a Schedule, we are more than willing to supply accommodations for the Queen and her party in the Borgia Apartments within the Apostolic Palace itself, and all meetings will take place within the Palace proper. Unless there is some area that falls under the Patrimony of the Holy See that the Queen would like to see.


As for the security of Vatican Airspace, that is something that is currently handled by the Italian Government, as such that is a separate negotiation that our Captain General will open with the Italian Government, or you may do so, if you would prefer.

Yours in Faith,

<Signed>
Raymond Burke
Secretary of State of His Holiness

 

[Jamie]

UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND NORTHERN IRELAND
Security Classification: TOP SECRET

To: Raymond Cardinal Burke, Secretary of State to His Holiness Ender
Cc: royal.enquiries@royal.gsx.gov.uk
Subject: Re: Private Audience

Thank you for your response and additional information as requested, I have relayed this onto the staff of the Royal Household to review. They have found it agreeable for such a visit to take place in April with the following schedule planned:

• Departing the United Kingdom will be a Royal Air Force, Lockheed Martin TriStar KC1 which will host Her Majesty, Aides and a security detail consisting of members of the Diplomatic Protection Group.
  Acknowledging the concern for arms, or minimally so, a small number of guards will carry a concealed pistol within proximity of Her Majesty for her protection. Please let me know if this is not agreeable and we may need to re-think the best way for such a visit to take place.
  
  
• We are happy for you to discuss with the Italian Government about the security of Vatican Airspace; if this is something they're unable to provide but can authorize RAF air policing for the duration of the visit, that would be ideal. During the visit, a flight of RAF Aircraft will be based at Cyprus on immediate readiness as an alternative.
  
  
• The planned accommodation laid out by yourselves is acceptable, we do believe closing the talks on April the 23rd would be suitable for the schedule for HM Queen Elizabeth II.

I hope this covers any security concerns and the planning from our side, the RAF Transport Aircraft will remain for the duration of the visit and used for the return trip to the United Kingdom. We are happy for the schedule during the visit to be determined by yourselves as to when the private audience will take place and any other state-activities you would like to see take place.

If we could please confirm at the end of March that the visit is still suitable for April, we will be able to ensure that the departure of Her Majesty from the UK is prompt.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Kindest Regards,
Mark Pellew

Mark Pellew | UK Ambassador to the Holy See |