Fortunately, His Majesty was well enough to begin his state visit to Italy on 7 April, a tour which will see him and Queen Camilla celebrate their 20th wedding anniversary in Rome. The royals had planned on attending an audience with Pope Francis, but this was cancelled due to the pontiff’s bout of pneumonia that saw him hospitalised for more than five weeks. Buckingham Palace has announced that the King and Queen’s plans have been postponed by mutual agreement following advice from the Pope’s medical team, who have instructed him to rest.
Charles and Camilla are understood to have sent the Pope their best wishes for his recovery and hope to visit him at the Vatican when he is stronger. The pontiff has recently been discharged from Rome’s Gemelli hospital, where he spent 38 days under constant care with pneumonia in both lungs. The 88-year-old suffered four breathing crises during his stint in hospital, with doctors forced to choose whether ‘to let him go, or push forward’, the head of his medical team divulged.
A historic state visit, Charles’s 17th to Italy, will see him become the first British sovereign to address both houses of the nation’s parliament, attend an audience with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, and attend a black-tie banquet at the Palazzo Quirinale. If the King travels in a helicopter, perhaps he might bring back some photographs for Ernest and August.