King Charles III, head of the Church of England, and Queen Camilla will travel to the Vatican to meet Pope Francis in April, Buckingham Palace said Thursday.
“Their majesties the King and Queen will undertake state visits to the Holy See and the Republic of Italy in early April 2025,” the palace said.
The state visit will be Charles’s first to the Vatican for talks with the head of the Catholic church since becoming king in 2022.
Charles has gradually made a return to public life after beginning treatment for cancer early last year, and has been on several state visits since.
The royals are set to join Pope Francis for Jubilee Year celebrations organised every 25 years by the Catholic Church and intended as a period of reflection.
Henry VIII established the Church of England and made himself its head in the 16th century after the Vatican refused to grant the annulment of his marriage to his first wife, Catherine of Aragon.
Charles and Camilla will also visit Rome and Ravenna in northern Italy to celebrate “the strong bilateral relationship between Italy and the United Kingdom”, the palace said.
The king previously visited the Vatican five times as Prince of Wales, most recently in 2019.
Ahead of his first state visit to Italy as monarch, Charles will join a “UK-Italy dinner” at the Highgrove Gardens royal residence in southwest England on Friday.
The dinner celebrating “the slow food and slow fashion movement” will be joined by the royal couple, the Italian ambassador to the UK and American actor Stanley Tucci.
Tucci, who hosts a TV travel show exploring Italian culture and cuisine, last year starred as a cardinal in the Oscar-nominated papal political thriller “Conclave”.
AFP
