A secret letter written by the Queen is locked away in a vault and can’t be read for another 63 years, according to news reports.
The late monarch wrote the note to the people of Sydney in Australia by hand over 30 years ago.
It is now kept in the city’s Queen Victoria Building. However, nobody knows what the letter contains – and nobody will be able to know until 2085.
That’s because the Queen left instructions for it to remain sealed until that date. And so the majority of people who get to learn of the letter’s contents will not have any memory of the monarch when she was alive.
Queen news about ‘secret letter’
The Queen is believed to have visited Australia – where she was head of state – 16 times in her lifetime.
Her first royal visit occurred in 1954, two years after she became Queen.
However, her ‘secret’ letter was prompted by the restoration of the Queen Victoria Building in November 1986.
There have been no indications about what the message from the late Queen may say.
Additionally, the Queen’s staff are said to have no idea what it contained within.
The only clues left about the mysterious note are found in the instructions for when it is to be opened.
The Queen’s ‘secret letter’ instructions
The letter – signed by the Queen – is addressed to the ‘Right and Honourable Lord Mayor of Sydney, Australia’.
The envelope reads: “Greetings. 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.”
And it seems the security surrounding the note – inside a glass case inside a restricted area in the building’s dome – indicates the late Queen’s wishes will be respected.
However, other report suggest the time capsule may have ended up buried in the building’s walls.
Whichever way it may be stored, it seems likely the royal memento will remain safe for a good while yet.
Location of the Queen’s ‘secret letter’
The QVB building was opened in 1898 and named in honour of the then-Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee.
It was nearly demolished for civic space and car parking in 1959.
Australians woke to the news of the Queen’s passing aged 96 on Friday morning.
A 96-gun salute – with a round fired for each year of the late monarch’s life – was held outside Parliament House in Canberra yesterday afternoon.
She was the first reigning monarch to visit Australia when the Queen made her first trip down under aged 27.
A million Aussies are believed to have lined the streets of Sydney to have greeted her and husband Prince Philip at the time.
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