Queen Elizabeth II will be paying a visit to Rome for two days in March, according to royal officials in London.

Buckingham Palace said the monarch will be accompanied by her husband, Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, on the official visit from 6-7 March.

Although confirmed by the British embassy in Rome, no details of the trip have been released apart from the dates, and it is not yet clear whether the royal visit will include the Vatican.

The last time the queen visited Italy was in 2000, when she toured Rome and Milan, while the Duke of Edinburgh represented the monarch at Pope Benedict XVI's inaugural mass in the Vatican in 2005.