King Charles and Queen Camilla arrived in Rome, Italy on Monday. They did a state greeting with officials on the tarmac, then they went to some garden or park and posed for photos. Those photos are being called their special 20th anniversary portraits. It has been a second since C&C gave us some official portraits, so that’s nice. These were taken by Chris Jackson, a favorite of all of the royal courts and a magician with the airbrush. The Buckingham Palace IG account posted the portraits with this message: “As we begin our first visit to Italy as King and Queen, we are so looking forward to celebrating our twentieth wedding anniversary in such a special place – and with such wonderful people! A presto, Roma e Ravenna! -Charles R & Camilla R.” The “R” is for Rex and Regina (king and queen). Here’s some more info about their Roman Holiday:

The King and Queen have arrived in Italy for a state visit as Britain works to “reset our relationships with our European partners”, officials said. Their British government flight from Brize Norton, Oxfordshire, was met by two F-35 fighter jets from the Italian air force before they touched down at Rome’s Ciampino airport just after 5.15pm local time.

On the red carpet, the King and Queen were greeted by a guard of honour and British and Italian dignitaries including David Lammy, foreign secretary. Wearing a Fiona Clare blue crepe dress, the Queen said she was “delighted” to be in Italy while the King waved and smiled to the media.

Lord Llewellyn of Steep, British ambassador to Italy, said the state visit would “deliver a meaningful and broad legacy”. He added: “Above all, Their Majesties will do something intangible but priceless: their visit will strengthen the closeness between our nations in a way that only they can, creating memories that will last a generation.”

Llewellyn said there was “a lot to look forward to” during the four-day trip, which will include a fly-past in Rome, a state banquet that falls on the couple’s 20th wedding anniversary, a meeting between the King and Giorgia Meloni, the Italian prime minister, and a “historic” moment when Charles will become the first British monarch to address a joint session in the Italian parliament.

A previous plan to visit the Vatican as part of the trip was dropped from the schedule because of the Pope’s ill health. The King, too, has experienced health difficulties in the run-up to the state visit. He was taken to hospital for observation a little over a week ago after suffering side-effects from his cancer treatment. However, the King’s doctors have advised that the trip can go ahead.

A theme of the royal visit will be to celebrate the bond between Britain and Italy. Llewellyn said that the UK’s “relationship with Italy continues to strengthen as we reset our relationships with our European partners”.

[From The Times]

I’m old enough to remember when the Windsors tried to position themselves as saviors to Britain’s strategic European alliances post-Brexit. It didn’t work out that way, partly because of the pandemic and partly because, well, the Windsors were too lazy to actually go out and reinforce those alliances on a consistent basis post-Brexit. It shouldn’t be forgotten that this Roman Holiday was originally planned and hyped for Prince William and Kate – nowadays, it looks like Kate will never travel for “work” again, she’ll only travel for vacations. And William wants to just do 24-hour blitz appearances where he shows up, waves his jazz hands, poses for photos in a costume and leaves. Speaking of… there’s a sort of morbid vibe around the coverage of C&C’s trip, like it’s the last one they’ll make for a while. I could be wrong – clearly, the courtiers want to see how this trip goes before planning something for the autumn.

Photos courtesy of Chris Jackson for Buckingham Palace,