How King Charles and Queen Camilla will spend their 20th wedding anniversary revealed as he continues cancer treatment
THE King and Queen are set to spend their 20th wedding anniversary with an action-packed day of official work engagements in Italy, The Sun can reveal.
Charles, 76, and Camilla, 77, will forgo any idea of a romantic break as they are expected to be on a State Visit to Rome – often dubbed “The Eternal City”.
The royal couple married at Windsor Guildhall on April 9, 2005 and held their reception at Windsor Castle.
Two decades on and the royal pair are still going strong but any loving celebrations are set to be put on hold this year.
Instead, they have lined up a string of engagements supporting issues close to their hearts while on an official State Visit – as the King continues his cancer treatment.
Full details on the State Visit to Italy have yet to be revealed but they are expected to visit Rome and have an audience with Pope Francis at Vatican City.
It comes after sources close to the King said following the successful trip to Australia and Samoa last year they will now resume a full programme of tours in 2025.
Charles, despite his cancer woes, is regarded as one of the hardest-working royals on the beat and can pack in up to eight engagements on a single day while on tour.
A source said the King and Queen would not let their milestone anniversary date get in the way of the tour planning.
And the packed itinerary means they will have no time to fit in a special event marking their china, or porcelain, anniversary.
They added: “It is expected that they will mark it privately, if at all.”
Another source said: “The trip falls on their 20th wedding anniversary but the King and Queen are well known and respected for their hard work and duty.
“I don’t think anyone would expect them to do anything else than carry out a full list of engagements.”
The King has been to Italy around 19 times including trips to Vatican City with Camilla meeting Pope Benedict XVI in 2009 and seeing Pope Francis in 2017.
Charles and Camilla, both divorcees, married at Windsor Guildhall rather than a church in 2005.
Their big day had to be delayed a week after the death of Pope John Paul II.
The royal couple spent their 19th wedding anniversary at their Balmoral retreat in the Scottish Highlands.
Three years earlier on their 16th anniversary, Charles’s father Prince Philip sadly passed away.
Italy will be the King and Queen’s third joint trip to a European neighbour since the crowning.
Their tours of France and Germany last year were hailed as diplomatic and trade successes.
After the trip to Berlin and Hamburg a government official said the visit formed a “rebooting” of relations and the State Visit smoothed talks on “foreign policy, trade, defence and cultural issues”.
The second foreign tour of 2025 has yet to be agreed.
Buckingham Palace had earmarked a trip for Charles and Camilla during the autumn of 2022 but had to cancel following the death of Queen Elizabeth II.
The Indian subcontinent, including Pakistan, Bangladesh and India, had been rumoured.
But Canada, which is a realm where the King is Head of State, has been ruled out for the royal couple in 2025 because it’s an election year.