APRIL 9, 2025
The Queen wore her wedding outfit from 2005 on her 20th anniversary – Victoria Jones/AFP
The Queen has arrived at the Italian Parliament wearing her civil wedding outfit from 2005, as she and the King mark their 20th wedding anniversary in Rome.
The King and Queen are celebrating the milestone during their state visit to Rome, where he will become the first British monarch to address both houses of Italy’s Parliament.
The Queen, who will watch him speak, is wearing the white Anna Valentine dress she wore for her 2005 wedding, when the then Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles said their vows at a civil ceremony at the Guildhall in Windsor.
The dress has been modified by Anna Valentine for the occasion, with additional embroidery from Beth Somerville from the King’s Foundation.
King Charles and Queen Camilla leaving the Guildhall in Windsor after their civil wedding ceremony in 2005 – AFP
The King and Queen spent the morning separately: he meeting the Giorgia Meloni, the Italian prime minister, at her residence Villa Doria Pamphili and she at a local school.
They joined together for a visit to the Senate and Parliament, and will have some private down time this afternoon.
In the evening, they will attend a State banquet celebrating the ties between Britain and Italy, where guests will likely raise a glass to their anniversary too.
The Queen wears a modified version of her civil ceremony dress for a public walkabout in Rome – Victoria Jones/PA
This morning his Majesty was welcomed on a red carpet by Ms. Meloni and inspected the Guards drawn from the army cavalry.
The pair greeted one another warmly, laughing and gesticulating on a tour of the 17th century palace’s gardens.
They appeared to find common ground while talking about the garden, which includes neat mazes and a fountain, before settling down inside a small room overlooking the garden for conversation.
It is the first time the King has met Ms. Meloni.
The pair paused for a photograph at the entrance of Casino del Bel Respiro, before making their way around the ornate white building to the large manicured gardens behind.
There, speaking in English, the prime minister gestured to points of artistic or architectural interest.
The pair spent a few moments in front of the fountain, Ms. Meloni laughed at one of the King’s jokes as he pointed towards the maze.
They then took a seat inside a small, white stone room, taking in the garden views and making small talk as they waited for official photographs to be taken.
They then had a private conversation.
In his second engagement of the day, the King met Italian actor Luca Zingaretti – famed for playing the food-loving Inspector Montalbano – as he celebrated the nation’s acting heritage.
King Charles chatted to the actor, then watched the next crop of acting hopefuls perform an emotional scene from Shakespeare’s Othello.
After watching a scene that included the moment Othello strangles his wife Desdemona on their marital bed in a fit of jealousy, the King met the actors who performed at the Mattatoio, a late 19th century slaughterhouse in Rome that is being regenerated.
He joked his “Italian was not good enough” to follow the performance, but guests could keep up with the action thanks to an English language extract of Shakespeare in a programme.
One of the students from the Accademia Nazionale d’Arte Drammatica Silvio d’Amico had been thrown to the ground during the scene and Charles asked her “not too many bruises, the fall was quite hard”.
The King, alongside Sergio Mattarella, the Italian president, also heard the outcome of discussions from a “clean power for growth” round table.
The Queen, meanwhile, visited a local school where she too spoke of her less-than-fluent Italian.
She greeted students at the Istituto Comprensivo Alessandro Manzoni with a cheery “buongiorno” and met some who have been taking part in a competition to mark the 80th Anniversary of the British Council.
Many of the children were dressed up as characters from Paddington, a particular favourite.
Queen Camilla was greeted by school children dressed as Paddington Bear – Paul Ellis/Reuters
English teacher Barbara Bucciarelli explained that the children wanted to sing ‘Let’s Learn English Together’ for her.
“You’re learning English, perhaps you can teach me some Italian,” the Queen said.
In an off-the-cuff speech the Queen said: “I just wanted to say how impressed I am already at the way you speak English. I suspect I need to come to the school to learn Italian. My Italian is very poor.
“I think it’s wonderful what you are doing for literacy and literature. It’s so important. You’ve obviously got a lot of talent here so thank you for having me.”
Before she departed, she gave a gift of a selection of books to the headteacher for the children, pretending to struggle at the weight, and joining a rousing rendition of Happy Birthday to the British Council in English and Italian.
She was presented with margherita pizza from a local family restaurant, Pizza Viola. “This looks delicious, we shall enjoy it later,” she said.
Courtesy/Source: Telegraph
