Queen Elizabeth II traveled the world but she never got to visit this historically significant country

Anita Durairaj

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Time magazine cover of Queen Elizabeth IICredit: Boris Chaliapin; Public Domain Image

In her 70-year reign, Queen Elizabeth II had visited at least 117 countries according to Time Out. She will always be known as one of the best-traveled monarchs of her time.

She visited countries that were under the Commonwealth as well as allies of the UK and several countries in the Middle East (Iran, Jordan, Oman, Kuwait, and more). However, the Queen never got to visit Israel.

Despite being deeply religious, Israel was off-limits to the Queen and the rest of the Royal Family. This changed in 2018 when Prince William visited Israel for the 70th anniversary of Israel's independence. In 2020, King Charles III, then Prince of Wales also visited Israel.

However, even after the "unofficial boycott" was over, the Queen did not visit. By this time, it is possible that she decided not to visit due to her advanced age.

When Queen Elizabeth II died, tributes were made to her in the House of Lords. One particular tribute by Lord Polak in the House of Lords was his regret that she passed before she had a chance to visit Israel.

The reasons given were that the Queen and the Royal Family were prohibited from visiting Israel by the UK Foreign Office.

According to Middle East Eye, there was a fear of upsetting wealthy Gulf nations and upending trade deals.

The Queen did meet with Israeli dignitaries on her home turf and even knighted the former President of Israel, Shimon Peres.

Now, with a new era in the monarchy, whether King Charles III will make an official visit to Israel will remain to be seen.

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Trained with a Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Cincinnati, I write unique and interesting articles focused on science, history, and current events.

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