King Charles III: Historic meeting with Pope Francis?

King Charles III (76) will reportedly meet with Pope Francis (88) for a historic meeting. The British monarch will therefore receive a private audience with the head of the Catholic Church in Rome when he travels to Italy in the spring. Queen Camilla (77) will accompany him on his stay abroad, it is said. Charles also plans to visit the Sistine Chapel of the Apostolic Palace, according to the report.

The 76-year-old will be the first British monarch to meet the Pope in a decade, according to The Mirror. It would also be the first time for Charles to meet the head of the church as king. The two men have met twice, most recently in 2019, when Charles visited the Vatican as heir to the throne. Charles and Francis also met in 2017 when the royal visited Rome.

There had already been speculation last year about a possible visit to Rome by Charles. After the king and his wife Camilla returned from their multi-day trip to Australia and Samoa in the fall, planning for the trip to Italy reportedly began.

In 2024, Charles initially did not go on any longer trips due to a cancer diagnosis before he began his journey Down Under in October. At the conclusion of the royal couple’s visit there, a senior palace official said, according to British media reports: “We are now working on a fairly normal-looking full overseas travel program for next year.” The palace went on to say: “It’s a great feeling for us to know that we can think in this way, subject to approval from the doctors.”