Charles and Camilla celebrate 20th wedding anniversary as guests of honour at state banquet Italy
9 April 2025, 06:25
King Charles and Queen Camilla celebrated their 20th wedding anniversary in Italy last night as guest of honours at a state banquet in Rome.
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Charles and Camilla were joined by leading figures from Italian life at the black-tie dinner held during the couple’s four-day state visit to Italy.
The head of state and his consort wed in a civil ceremony at Windsor Guildhall on April 9 2005 following a romance that began when they were in their early 20s.
The King and Queen were given a royal flypast by the Red Arrows and their Italian counterparts, the Frecce Tricolori, earlier in the day.
The royal couple had arrived in Rome on Monday before undertaking the four-day state visit to celebrate ties between the UK and Italy.
They were formally welcomed to the country by the Italian president Sergio Mattarella and his daughter.
Charles first met fun, confident Camilla on Windsor Great Park polo field in 1970 when he had just left Cambridge University, a year before he joined the Royal Navy.
No marriage proposal came despite the closeness between the pair and when the relationship cooled after Charles dedicated himself to his Navy career, Camilla wed cavalry officer Andrew Parker Bowles in 1973 and Charles later married Diana, Princess of Wales in 1981.
After Charles and Camilla both divorced – and Diana died in l997 – Camilla’s eventual emergence as Charles’ long-term partner was part of a carefully planned PR campaign masterminded by the heir to the throne’s spin doctor Mark Bolland.
At their wedding reception, held the same day as the Grand National, Queen Elizabeth II said about their romance: “They have overcome Becher’s Brook and The Chair and all kinds of other terrible obstacles. They have come through and I’m very proud and wish them well.
“My son is home and dry with the woman he loves.”
During the third day of their Italian state visit, Charles will become the first British monarch to address both houses of Italy’s parliament – the chamber of deputies and the senate of the republic.
Before delivering his speech to the politicians, the King will have an audience with Italy’s prime minister Giorgia Meloni, the country’s first female premier who took up office in October 2022 at the head of a coalition of right-wing populist parties.
On Monday, Charles and Camilla were photographed at the Villa Wolkonsky the official Rome residence of Edward Llewellyn, the UK's ambassador to Italy and San Marino, after their UK Government jet landed at Ciampino Airport with an F-35 fighter jet escort.
In one image Charles and Camilla, wearing an Anna Valentine white and beige coat, are in the grounds of the home and in the remaining photographs are pictured near the Neronian arches, a branch of the Aqua Claudia, a Roman aqueduct supplying Rome.
The Queen also wore a Faberge lily of the valley brooch reportedly given to the the late Queen Mother by Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev during his official visit to the UK in 1956.
The King and Queen will spend their 20th wedding anniversary evening as guests of honour at a state banquet held in Rome.
Charles and Camilla are expected to be joined by leading figures from Italian life at the black tie dinner, held as part of the couple's state visit.
The head of state and his consort wed in a civil ceremony at Windsor Guildhall on April 9 2005 following a romance that began when they were in their early twenties.
Charles first met Camilla on the Windsor Great Park polo field in 1970 when he had just left the University of Cambridge, a year before he joined the Royal Navy.
No marriage proposal came despite the closeness between the pair and when the relationship cooled after Charles dedicated himself to his Navy career, Camilla wed cavalry officer Andrew Parker Bowles in 1973 and Charles later married Diana, Princess of Wales in 1981.
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After Charles and Camilla both divorced - and Diana died in 1997 - Camilla's eventual emergence as Charles's long-term partner was part of a carefully planned PR campaign masterminded by the heir to the throne's spin doctor Mark Bolland.
Their first public appearance together was outside the Ritz hotel in London in 1999, dubbed Operation Ritz, where the mass of waiting photographers had been tipped off.
At their wedding reception, held the same day as the Grand National, Queen Elizabeth II said about their romance: "They have overcome Becher's Brook and The Chair and all kinds of other terrible obstacles. They have come through and I'm very proud and wish them well.
"My son is home and dry with the woman he loves."
