UK’s longest serving monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, died at the age of 96 after reigning for 70 years. In a secret vault in one of Australia's old buildings, a letter written by Queen Elizabeth II is kept. The message, which was written to commemorate the renovation of the former marketplace, now a five-level shopping centre, is kept in Sydney's Queen Victoria Building (QVB). The letter has been kept in a glass case within a locked room in the dome of the palace ever since Her Majesty penned it in November 1986.
Not even the monarch's personal entourage has access to the letter's contents, which have been kept a secret. Only the Queen's instructions for when to open it are visible.
“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,” the instructions read. The letter is addressed to the “Right and Honourable Lord Mayor of Sydney, Australia” and signed by the Queen.
The QVB building was erected in 1898 and was given its name in honour of Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee, which was observed the previous year to commemorate the monarch's accession 60 years earlier.
The British monarch still serves as Australia's head of state today; King Charles III took over after his mother passed away.
