Queen Camilla reveals key to her successful marriage to Charles as couple celebrate 20th wedding anniversary in Rome
The busy royal couple were in Rome for a State visit and Camilla said they would wait until they get home to celebrate the occasion.
It came as the King and Queen also had a private, 30-minute meeting with the Pope, who is recovering following weeks in hospital with ill health.
He wished them both a happy anniversary.
The Queen revealed she had an anniversary gift for her husband made of china — as is tradition for the landmark.
And she said: “Twenty years, who could believe it was 20 years? What is the secret? I don’t know. I suppose it’s just sort of friendship.
“Laughing at the same things, getting on with life. I suppose doing this takes up most of the time.”
When asked if the best present was for the King to slow down, she said: “Dream on! Dream on!”
The Queen marked the marriage milestone wearing her 2005 wedding outfit to the Italian parliament, where the King received a standing ovation after he described the anniversary as a special day.
The couple have a packed four-day State visit, but factored in several hours yesterday afternoon to relax at their residence, Villa Wolkonsky.
Camilla added: “We are always going in different directions, like ships that pass in the night. We whizz past each other. We have got a bit of a catch-up this afternoon.”
She said of their celebration: “No, we are going to do that when we get back. We are going to save that.
“Otherwise you can’t really, you have to rush it. You don’t have time to say anything. I think we might dig into our pockets and pull something out at the end of the day. I have got something — it’s china.”
The couple carried out six engagements, including meeting Italy’s prime minister Giorgia Meloni and a State banquet with President Sergio Mattarella.
We’re always going in different directions… like passing ships in the night
Camilla
Speaking at the plush dinner, Charles joked: “I must say it really is very good of you, Mr President, to lay on this small romantic, candle-lit dinner for two.”
The King began his engagements by meeting Ms Meloni with a ceremonial guard at Villa Doria and touring the gardens.
The Queen, meanwhile, was handed margherita pizza and a cake outside the Istituto Comprensivo Alessandro Manzoni, where youngsters had taken part in a competition to mark the 80th anniversary of the British Council.
The King has been having cancer treatment for more than a year and was forced to cancel a string of engagements last month after he was taken to hospital following side effects from the treatment.
He was unable to see son Harry when the Prince jetted back to the UK on Sunday for his security court battle because the King was having further cancer treatment.
The royal couple’s visit to the Pope yesterday came after their State visit to Vatican City was postponed due to the pontiff’s ill health.
Their spokesman said: “Their Majesties were delighted the Pope was well enough to host them and to have had the opportunity to share their best wishes in person.”
Camilla’s family used to own a home in Florence, and she recalled visiting as a child and travelling to Naples and Ischia, saying: “I’ve always loved it here.”
Will Charles slow down? Dream on! It would be nice to have a day off
Camilla
On spending her anniversary in Italy, she added: “You come to Italy and you feel better. They are so friendly. Everybody is so lovely. You’ve got the food, the weather, there’s something in the air. Everything tastes better here. Why is it tomatoes, why is it pasta, tastes better? You take it back to England and it doesn’t taste the same.”
Asked if she had time to catch up with Charles after their busy work schedule in Italy, Camilla said: “Well, yes, we do. We have time over dinner to do a bit of catching up.
“It would be very nice if we got a day off and went somewhere but that was not going to happen!”
Camilla wore her repurposed wedding outfit as the couple arrived at the Italian parliament.
The King received several standing ovations in his speech there as he celebrated the links between the UK and Italy.
He joked: “Our ties go back over two millennia — to those ancient Roman visitors who arrived on our windswept shores. It was the Romans who gave Britons the idea of putting a King’s head on coins — so I’m especially grateful to them.”
He also hailed the two countries standing together in support of Ukraine in “her hour of need”.
