The true purpose of King Charles’s Italy trip

After some recent bad news for King Charles in the form of an – admittedly fleeting – setback in his ongoing cancer treatment, you could hardly blame him for wanting a brief respite from the gruelling health challenges that he has faced. And respites don’t come more glamorous or enjoyable than the state visit that he and Queen Camilla are currently undertaking to Italy. It is appropriate that the trip coincides with their 20th wedding anniversary this week. The published itinerary suggests that fun, rather than onerous duty, will be the guiding spirit of the four days that they will be spending in Rome, Ravenna and other locations in the country.

There are, naturally, a few important and relevant state functions that the King will carry out during the visit – Charles has a meeting with the country’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, and he will become the first British monarch to address a joint session in the Italian parliament.