In Pictures: State banquet caps activity-packed day for King in Rome

The King kept himself busy on his last full day in Rome before a state banquet that he jokingly described as a candle-lit meal to mark his 20th wedding anniversary with Camilla.

The King had held a morning meeting with prime minister Giorgia Meloni and addressed both chambers of the Italian parliament before the banquet but had also found time for an unscheduled meeting with Pope Francis, who has been ill but had signalled his desire for a brief visit earlier in the day.

During his busy day, the King carried out walkabouts, saw actors perform Othello, one of many of Shakespeare’s plays that are set in Italy, while the Queen, who wore her wedding outfit for part of the day, even followed the “when in Rome do what the Romans do” mantra by trying some ice cream.

A picture of the meeting with the Pope at the Vatican will be released on Thursday when Charles will spend most of the day in the historic city of Ravenna, carrying out another busy programme of engagements.

His speech at the state banquet was full of references to Rome’s influence on the UK as he used Monty Python’s “what have the Romans ever done for us” line to draw attention to places like Hadrian’s Wall, Carmarthen and York.