Her Majesty wears her wedding outfit again as couple mark their 20th anniversary during visit to Rome
The Queen has shared her secret to reaching 20 years of happy marriage: friendship, laughter and “getting on with life”.
In rare words about the Royal family’s personal life, Queen Camilla spoke of reaching the marital milestone, and her incredulity at how the last two decades had passed.
“Twenty years, who could believe it was 20 years?” she said, speaking to the British media during the state visit to Italy.
“What is the secret? I don’t know…I suppose it’s just sort of friendship, really.
“Laughing at the same things, getting on with life. I suppose doing this [public engagements] takes up most of the time.
“We are always going in different directions, like ships that pass in the night really. We whizz past each other.”
The King and Queen marked their anniversary in Rome, where the King became the first monarch to address both houses of the Italian parliament and later spoke at a state banquet.
He told politicians that the timing of the visit was “all the more special to us both since today also marks our twentieth wedding anniversary”.
At the evening banquet for 150 guests, in which he spoke after president Sergio Mattarella, the King said: “Today marks, as you say, the Queen’s and my twentieth wedding anniversary.
‘I’ve never asked: what have the Romans ever done for us?’
“On that score, 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 devoted much of his speech to Britain’s love for Italy and its culture, joking that: “I, for one, have never asked that question – made famous by Monty Python – ‘what have the Romans ever done for us?’
“We see their imprint on what they knew as Britannia every day – from London to Carmarthen, from York to Hadrian’s Wall.
“Italy has succeeded, where Rome failed, in extending its influence to all corners of the United Kingdom – not least thanks to a beloved diaspora whose charm has proved mightier than the sword.”
Speaking to an audience made up from guests who have contributed to Italian-UK relations, including Andrea Bocelli, Rocco Forte and chef Giorgio Locatelli, the King referenced the many Royal visits of recent history from his great-great-great grandmother Queen Victoria who enjoyed painting watercolors in Florence, to Edward VII and George V who both spoke at State banquets at the same location of the Quirinale.
Earlier that day, the Queen had put on the same outfit she first wore for the couple’s 2005 civil ceremony in Windsor, modified and with added embroidery to the dress and coat.
Speaking to the press during an engagement at a local school, she said that she and the King had time in the diary for a “bit of a catch-up this afternoon”, after five public engagements and a walkabout, and ahead of the state banquet.
They also made a last-minute visit to Pope Francis, for a 20-minute audience in which he too wished them a happy anniversary.
Buckingham Palace, posting on social media, called the visit a “special moment”: “Che occasioned special!”.
In a message accompanying a photograph of the King and Queen greeting Pope Francis, a spokesman said: “The King and Queen were deeply touched by the Pope’s kind remarks about their 20th wedding anniversary and honored to be able to share their best wishes with him in person.”
The Queen said at the school visit that the royal couple have not yet had time to exchange gifts, adding that she was planning to give the King some China, the traditional gift for a 20th anniversary.
“We are going to do that when we get back,” said the Queen.
“We are going to save that. Otherwise you can’t really…. you have to rush it. You don’t have time to say anything.”
Instead, she added: “I think we might dig into our pockets and pull something out at the end of the day. I have got something.”
Asked whether the King, who had his latest round of cancer treatment the day before flying to Rome, would accept the gift of a break from work, the Queen joked: “Dream on.”
‘You come to Italy and you feel better’
Asked in an interview about being in Italy, which the Queen visited regularly as a child on trips to her family’s holiday home in Florence, she said: “I’ve always loved it here.
“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, it doesn’t taste the same.”
Asked whether she and the King ever get time to relax together while on tour, she said: “Yes, we do. We have time over dinner to do a bit of catching up.”
Pressed on whether they would have any free time to mark the anniversary, she added: “It would be very nice if we got a day off and went somewhere but that was not going to happen!”
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