King Charles and Queen Camilla will visit Italy in April (Image: Getty)
and will undertake a state visit to Italy and the Vatican in April, Buckingham Palace has announced.
It will mark Charles and Camilla’s second overseas tour since the monarch’s cancer diagnosis last February.
During their visit to the Holy See – the government of the Catholic Church which operates from Vatican City – the royal couple will have a historic meeting with the Pope to celebrate the 20215 Jubilee year.
Traditionally held once every 25 years, the Jubilee is a special year for the Catholic Church; a year of walking together as ‘Pilgrims of Hope’.
The King met three Popes as the Prince of Wales, Pope Benedict XVI during the 2009 visit to the Holy See and Pope Francis during his visits in 2017 and 2019.
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In 1982, he also met Pope John Paul II in Canterbury during the first-ever visit of a Pope on British soil.
But his meeting in the spring will be the first time Charles has met Pope Francis, who has held the papacy since 2013, as monarch.
Queen Elizabeth II was the last monarch to meet with Pope Francis back in 2014 when she had a personal audience with him in Rome.
The King and Queen are expected to visit various Vatican landmarks during the tour, including the Sistine Chapel.
In Italy, the royal couple will undertake engagements in Rome and Ravenna, celebrating the strong bilateral relationship between Italy and the UK.
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King Charles continues to undergo cancer treatment (Image: Getty)
The Palace has not yet revealed the dates of the state visit, but the trip is understood to coincide with their 20th wedding anniversary on April 9.
Charles has visited the Holy See five times before, with Camilla joining him for two of the trips, in 2009 and 2017.
He has officially visited Italy 17 times, with his most recent trip taking place in October 2021 for the G20 Summit in Rome.
The Queen joined her husband on two occasions, in 2009 and 2017.
The King continues to undergo cancer treatment but is determined to return to a full royal schedule, both domestically and internationally. A second tour is due to take place in the autumn.
Last October, the royal couple packed in 36 engagements during their nine-day tour of Australia and Samoa.
A Palace source said at the time that Charles “genuinely thrived” on the trip and despite its demands, it had been “the perfect tonic”.