A secret handwritten letter by Queen Elizabeth II for Australia has been stored in a vault, where she had ordained it to open in the next 63 years, reports Sydney-based 7 News.
The letter was penned in November 1986 after the Queen Victoria Building in Sydney was restored, and since then, it has been kept in a glass case within a locked room in the dome of the palace.
However, no one knows what the letter says—not even the Queen’s personal staff. So, one has to wait till 2085 to know the content of the letter.
“On a suitable day to be selected by you in the year 2085 A.D, would you please open this envelope and convey to the citizens of Sydney my message to them,” the instruction addressed to the Lord Mayor of Sydney says.
It is simply signed, “Elizabeth R.”
The Queen Victoria Building was established in 1898 and named in honour of Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee, which was observed the previous year to commemorate the monarch’s accession 60 years earlier.
Queen Victoria was the great-great-grandmother of Queen Elizabeth.
Queen Elizabeth II, who was crowned in 1952, first visited Australia in 1954, two years after she ascended the throne. She has visited the country 16 times.
The British monarch serves as the head of state in Australia. King Charles III took over after his mother passed away.
In 1999, a referendum was conducted in Australia to decide if it wanted to become a republic.
About 54 per cent of the population at the time sided with the Queen continuing to remain the head of state. Consequently, the Queen’s head of state position stayed unabolished.
(With inputs from agencies)
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