The opportunity came thanks to the very kind invitation of His Excellency, Lord Llewellyn, the British Ambassador to Italy for a High Tea at his residence in the presence of Their Majesties King Charles III and Queen Camilla. Their Majesties were in Italy on a Royal State Visit and were celebrating Their 20^th Wedding Anniversary.

Paul spoke at great length with a generous and enchanting Queen Camilla, who expressed her love of Italy, Venice and opera. She very graciously asked Paul to send Her more information about Teatro San Cassiano specifically to share with “Her husband”, a known aficionado of both opera and architecture. Paul was able, in turn, to present not only our formal project documentation, but two personally signed CDs from our Ambassador, the acclaimed Mezzo-soprano Ann Hallenberg (Arias for Luigi Marchesi and The Farinelli Manuscript).

You will understand how extremely indebted we are to Her Majesty for her interest, to His Excellency for the kind invite. We are also exceptionally grateful for the continued support from the UK Department of Business and Trade, the British Embassy and the British Consulate-General in Milan. Individual and heartfelt thanks go to His Excellency and staff, Michael Jolley-Pathirana Dissanayakage, Serena Corti and Anthea Zanella.

We hope to be able to share some images in due course.