The British High Commission Valletta has advised that following the announcement of the death of Queen Elizabeth II on Thursday, it has opened a book of condolence for those that wish to pay their respects.
The book of condolence will be open over the weekend, at the British High Commission, Whitehall Mansions, Ta’ Xbiex between the hours of 10am and 4pm.
There is the option to use the online condolence facility available at www.royal.uk [1] if preferred.
Heritage Malta said today that people have been laying wreaths at the door of Villa Guardamangia to pay their last respects to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.
Villa Guardamangia [2] in Pieta is the only known place outside Great Britain where an heir to the throne of the United Kingdom has resided, and the only place which Queen Elizabeth II has described as “home,” Malta Heritage said.
It went on to say that while in Malta, Her Majesty, was able to lead a “normal” life unburdened by official duties and made many happy memories which she fondly recalled for the rest of her life.
Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, resided at the villa intermittently between 1949 and 1951, when she was still a princess.
Her husband, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, was an officer of the Royal Navy at the time and Princess Elizabeth was known to frequently wave him goodbye from the Harbour Fire Command station at Fort St Elmo.
Heritage Malta stated that “those were happy times, unlike the heavy aura engulfing the villa today.”
“Villa Guardamangia represents the close relationship between Great Britain and Malta in the past 200 years or so,” it said.
It was purchased by the Government of Malta and formally entrusted to Heritage Malta in June 2020.
Top photo: UK in Malta – British High Commission Malta and below by Heritage Malta