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“Good morning, welcome!” With these words, Pope Leo welcomed King Charles III and Queen Camilla to the Apostolic Palace. The British royal couple were welcomed in the courtyard of St. Damasus by the papal band and the Swiss Guard, writes Corriere Della Sera.
Camilla was dressed in black, as required by protocol for non-Catholic queens who do not enjoy the "Privilege of White", that is, permission to wear white before the Holy Father. She wore a black veil and did not have a diamond crown on her head, unlike Queen Elizabeth II on her visits until 2000. For this occasion, as Corriere Della Sera writes, Camilla chose a crown with feathers and leaves, made by the famous royal designer, Philip Treacy.
The King and Queen stepped out of their royal motorcade in the October sunshine, where they were greeted by Monsignor Leonardo Sapienza and Prince Mariano Hugo Windisch-Graetz, representatives of the Pope. The national anthems of the United Kingdom and the Vatican rang out in the air, while the royal flag of Windsor was raised for a day above the papal one at the entrance to the Apostolic Palace, the highest ceremonial honour for a state visit.
The traditional exchange of gifts took place at the Vatican: the King presented the Pope with a portrait of Saint Edward the Confessor, while the Pope presented Charles III with a mosaic made in the Vatican and two orchids, as a symbol of environmental sustainability, a theme that marks this entire state visit.
At St. Paul's Basilica, the king can pass through the Holy Door, making the "Jubilee journey," almost like a Catholic believer. From the moment the visit was announced, King Charles had expressed his desire to participate in the Holy Jubilee of 2025.
In the spirit of ecumenism, later in the day, Charles will receive the title of “Royal Confrater” (Honorary Brother) from the Benedictine monks of St. Paul’s, while Pope Leo himself will be declared a “Papal Confrater” by the Anglican Church, for the first time in history. This means that there will be a royal “brother” in Rome at St. Paul’s, and a papal “brother” in St. George’s Chapel, Windsor.
During the meeting at the Apostolic Palace, the King presented the Pope with the title of “Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath”, while the Pope will respond with the title of “Knight Grand Cross with Collar of the Order of Pope Pius IX”. Queen Chamilla will receive the title of “Lady Grand Cross” of the same order.
After the ceremony, the Pope and the King joined for a prayer in the Sistine Chapel, a symbolic act that closes the wound of religious division since the schism of King Henry VIII, more than 500 years ago.
A visit with historical significance
This is King Charles' first state visit to the Holy See since his coronation in 2023. Like Queen Elizabeth II in 1982, when she hosted Pope John Paul II, the first Pope to set foot on British soil, this day also goes down in the history of relations between the Vatican and the United Kingdom.
Charles and Camilla arrived at Ciampino airport last evening, where they were met by the British ambassador to the Holy See, Christopher Trott, and Monsignor Javier Domingo Fernández González, the Vatican's head of protocol. After spending the night at Villa Wolkonsky, the British ambassador's residence, the couple headed to the Vatican for a private audience with the Pope.
Four ceremonial guards escorted the couple to the Papal Library, where the private meeting took place. The King then met with Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican Secretary of State, before joining the Pope in the Sistine Chapel for a prayer dedicated to “care for creation.”
A message of spiritual friendship
According to Sister Alessandra Smerilli, during the visit the King and the Pope will also meet entrepreneurs and organizations working on climate and sustainability, as part of the King's "Sustainable Markets Initiative (SMI)", a topic that strongly unites the two leaders.
At the end of the visit, the King will accept the appointment as a “Royal Brother” of the Benedictine monks at St. Paul's Basilica, an honor that will be immortalized in a ceremonial chair with his coat of arms and the motto “Ut unum sint” (“That we may be one”), the great call for Christian unity.
This gesture concludes a lifetime of King Charles dedicated to interfaith dialogue and friendship between religions, a tradition he inherited from his father, Prince Philip, and grandmother, Princess Alice of Greece.
"It is the first time that a British monarch, as Supreme Governor of the Church of England, has accepted an honorary title from another religion," historian Hugo Vickers points out.
St Paul's Basilica, where the historic meeting between Pope Paul VI and the Archbishop of Canterbury took place in 1966, remains a symbol of Catholic-Anglican cooperation. For the British Foreign Office, the visit represents "a signal of peace and dialogue at a time of uncertainty and conflict", with King Charles as "a key figure in promoting human dignity, peace and care for the climate".
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