King Charles and Queen Camilla had a ‘very significant and special’ secret meeting with Pope Francis, less than a fortnight before he died.
The couple’s historic state visit to the Vatican earlier this month was cancelled because of the Pope’s poor health, but the pair managed to meet the head of the Roman Catholic Church privately during their trip to Italy.
The Vatican subsequently released a striking image of Charles and Camilla shaking hands with the ailing pontiff.
The King today spoke of his and the Queen’s ‘deep sadness’ over the death of the Pope, but recalled with fondness their most recent meeting.
In a personal note, Charles wrote: ‘Our heavy hearts have been somewhat eased, however, to know that His Holiness was able to share an Easter Greeting with the Church and the world he served with such devotion throughout his life and ministry.
‘His Holiness will be remembered for his compassion, his concern for the unity of the Church and for his tireless commitment to the common causes of all people of faith, and to those of goodwill who work for the benefit of others.
‘His belief that care for Creation is an existential expression of faith in God resounded with so many across the world. Through his work and care for both people and planet, he profoundly touched the lives of so many.
‘The Queen and I remember with particular affection our meetings with His Holiness over the years and we were greatly moved to have been able to visit him earlier in the month.’
King Charles and Queen Camilla met Pope Francis at the Vatican this month
Charles and Camilla previously spoke with the Pope in April 2017 (pictured)
The King and Queen visited the Italian Parliament in Rome earlier this month
Signing the letter ‘Charles R’, the King added: ‘We send our most heartfelt condolences and profound sympathy to the Church he served with such resolve and to the countless people around the world who, inspired by his life, will be mourning the devastating loss of this faithful follower of Jesus Christ.’
The meeting between the royal pair and the Pope was arranged at the last minute and took place on April 9 – Charles and Camilla’s 20th wedding anniversary – with Pope Francis wanting to personally wish them a happy anniversary.
Charles and the Pope are understood to have wished each other well following their personal health battles in recent months, including the King’s cancer treatment.
Buckingham Palace issued a photograph of the meeting on social media, with a post saying: ‘Che occasione speciale!
‘A special moment for Their Majesties as they privately met His Holiness Pope Francis at the Vatican yesterday.
‘The King and Queen were deeply touched by The Pope’s kind remarks about their 20th wedding anniversary and honoured to be able to share their best wishes to him in person.’
Ths followed a statement in which the Holy See Press Office stated: ‘Pope Francis met privately with Their Majesties, King Charles and Queen Camilla, this afternoon.
‘In the course of the meeting, the Pope expressed his best wishes to Their Majesties on the occasion of their wedding anniversary and reciprocated His Majesty’s wishes for a speedy recovery of his health.’
King Charles and Queen Camilla arrive for the State Banquet at the Palazzo Quirinale in Rome
Queen Camilla rewears her wedding outfit to celebrate her 20th anniversary with King Charles
A senior Palace official said afterwards: ‘I think outside of the official programme, the most significant and indeed moving thing was that visit to the Pope.
‘We didn’t know until the last minute that it would be possible. But when the Pope asked if he could see the King and Queen, Their Majesties were clearly very pleased; after all, they have known him over many years and with the rest of the world, have been praying for his recovery.
‘The Pope wanted personally to wish them a happy anniversary, not least because it hadn’t been possible to do the state visit on this occasion.
‘Their Majesties both came away feeling that it had been a very significant and special moment.’
Twenty years ago, Charles and Camilla’s marriage ceremony was postponed with just four days to go following the death of Pope John Paul II.
The then-Prince of Wales put duty first and his wedding date was moved from April 8 to April 9 2005 because it clashed with the pope’s funeral.
Charles represented the late Queen by travelling to Rome to attend the service, alongside more than 100 world leaders and ended up shaking hands with Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe.
The then-archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, who was due to conduct the prince’s blessing in St George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle after his civil ceremony had made it clear he wished to break with tradition and attend the pope’s funeral.
King Charles and Queen Camilla during their visit to the Senate of the Republic in Italy
Pope Francis waves to faithfuls after delivering the Christmas Day message from the central balcony of St Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City, on December 25 2013
The 24-hour postponement of the royal wedding from the Friday to the Saturday meant the civil wedding had to be slotted in ahead of three other weddings already taking place at the Guildhall in Windsor.
The King met Pope Francis twice as the Prince of Wales, but the visit in April was his first as monarch and head of the Church of England.
The pair are said to have had huge respect for one another.
When Queen Elizabeth II died in 2022, the Pope sent his ‘heartfelt condolences’ to Charles, the new sovereign, in a telegram.
He said he joined all in mourning her loss and paid tribute to ‘her life of unstinting service to the good of the Nation and the Commonwealth, her example of devotion to duty, her steadfast witness of faith’.
The late Queen met Pope Francis in 2014 at the Vatican, when he gave her eight-month-old great-grandson Prince George a lapis lazuli orb decorated with a silver cross of Edward the Confessor, the 11th century English king who was made a saint.
The Queen gave the Pope a hamper full of produce from royal estates including honey from Buckingham Palace and Balmoral whiskey.
Charles and Pope Francis first met in 2017, when the prince and Camilla were received at a papal audience in the Vatican at the end of a European tour.
The Pope urged Charles to work to bring peace in the world, telling him ‘Wherever you go, may you be a man of peace’, with the prince replying ‘I’ll do my best’.
They exchanged gifts, with the prince giving the pontiff a large hamper of produce from his Highgrove estate for the poor and the homeless and framed photographs of himself and his wife.
The Pope presented him with a bronze olive branch, signifying peace, and copies of his writings on climate change bound in red leather and other papal writings.
Francis’s reputation as a pope with the ‘common touch’ and a taste for simple living saw him dispense with some of the formality and trappings of his position.
In keeping with the relaxed nature of the meeting, Camilla did not wear black or a mantilla, a lace veil, in 2017 as she did when the royal couple met Pope Benedict XVI in 2009, but opted for a gold silk Anna Valentine dress.
But both the King and Queen were dressed in black as a traditional mark of respect when they met the Pope in April.
In 2019, Charles travelled solo to the Vatican and met Pope Francis ahead of the canonisation of Cardinal John Henry Newman at an open-air mass in St Peter’s Square.
The King is Supreme Governor of the Church of England.
The role dates back to Henry VIII, who named himself Supreme Head of the Church of England after he was excommunicated by the pope, Pope Paul III, and broke from the Catholic Church in the 16th century to marry Anne Boleyn.
A nine-day mourning period will begin in honour of Francis, with his funeral in around four to six days’ time after his body lies in state in St Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City.
Italy also usually declares a period of national mourning.
Two to three weeks later, the conclave to elect a new pope convenes, with the College of Cardinals locked inside the Sistine Chapel to vote in secret four times a day until a candidate receives a two-thirds majority, with a white smoke signal released through a chimney to announce a pope has been chosen.
