King Charles and Queen Camilla will be heading to Italy next month for a three-day state visit, but they may be faced with a culinary “challenge”. The King and Queen’s planned state visit to the Vatican to meet Pope Francis will go ahead despite the pontiff’s continuing hospital treatment for double pneumonia.

The tour from April 7 to 10 will include two state visits, to Rome and Ravenna in Italy, and separately the Holy See, the government of the Roman Catholic Church, in the Vatican – the smallest independent state in the world. But the monarch, known for his eclectic culinary taste, may have to skip certain foods while on tour. Italy is famous for its pasta as well as its tomato based cuisine, which also regularly feature the use of garlic.

However, members of the Royal Family are ‘banned’ from eating certain foods while carrying out engagements.

While some of them may be very common to the average Brit, other, “rarer” ones are banned due to the risk of making them sick, while another one is a “no-no” due to the King’s ethos.

Members of the Royal Family try to mostly avoid two very common items usually found in our kitchens – onions and garlic.

Former royal chef John Higgins has previously said: “At Buckingham Palace, you don’t cook with garlic. I suppose, in case you get the royal burp.”

The rule, which was mostly in place during royal events and state banquets at home and abroad, was also confirmed by Queen Camilla in 2018.

Another food the royals are banned from eating while attending royal events or royal tours is shellfish – to avoid the risk of being poisoned.

King Charles’s former butler Grant Harrold has previously revealed: “When dining, the Royal Family has to be careful with shellfish due to shellfish poisoning, due to their work schedules.

The monarch broke this rule when he was pictured eating oysters during the Whitstable Oyster Festival in 2013.

Lastly, there is one type of food Charles hates so much that he’s banned it from all royal residences.

The King – who was even praised by animal rights organisation PETA – has banned the French delicacy foie gras from all menus served at his royal residences due to the unethical way it’s made.

Meanwhile, it was also reported by the BBC in 2000 that the late Queen Elizabeth asked chefs at the palace of the Italian president at the time, Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, to omit garlic, long pastas and “messy” tomato sauces for the menu during her visit to the country that year.

Next month, Charles will pass two milestones, becoming the first British monarch to visit the Papal Basilica of St Paul Outside the Walls, the resting place of St Paul since the reformation, and address both houses of Italy’s parliament.

The King will hold audiences with Italy’s President Sergio Mattarella and Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, and the monarch and his wife will attend a black-tie state banquet at the Palazzo Quirinale hosted by the president.

Charles, supreme governor of the Church of England, last met the Pope in 2019 when he was the Prince of Wales, for the canonisation of Cardinal John Henry Newman.

A Buckingham Palace spokesman said: “On Tuesday 8 April, and clearly subject to Pope Francis’s health, their majesties will visit the Holy See to join Pope Francis in celebrating the 2025 jubilee.

“Held traditionally once every 25 years, the jubilee is a special year for the Catholic Church; a year of reconciliation, prayer and walking together as ‘Pilgrims of Hope’, which is the jubilee’s theme.

“The King and Queen will have an audience with Pope Francis. Their Majesties will also attend a service in the Sistine Chapel, focused on the theme of ‘care for creation’, reflecting Pope Francis’s and His Majesty’s long-standing commitment to nature.”

Other highlights of the trip will see the UK and Italy’s defence co-operation marked by a joint flypast over Rome by the Italian Air Force’s aerobatic team, Frecce Tricolori, and by the RAF’s Red Arrows.

In Ravenna, near Bologna, Charles and Camilla will mark the 80th anniversary of the province’s liberation from Nazi occupation by Allied forces on April 10 1945 during a town hall reception, and will celebrate literary culture by visiting Dante’s tomb, with the Queen making a solo trip to the Byron museum.