King Charles and Queen Camilla paid a surprise visit to the recovering Pope Francis on Wednesday during a state visit to Italy that coincided with the British royal couple’s 20th wedding anniversary.
The pope met privately with the royals, the Vatican said in a statement.
“During the meeting, the Pope expressed his good wishes to Their Majesties on the occasion of their wedding anniversary and reciprocated His Majesty’s wishes a speedy recovery of his health,” the Vatican said.
The 88-year-old pontiff has been recovering from a life-threatening bout of pneumonia which landed him in hospital for five weeks in February and March. Charles, meanwhile, has been battling cancer since last year.
Wednesday’s meeting came as a surprise after Buckingham Palace announced last month that the royals would postpone a planned state visit to the Vatican because of the pope’s ill health.
However, Francis had appeared to be in good spirits Sunday at his first public appearance since being released from hospital just over two weeks ago.
The pope smiled as he greeted crowds in the Vatican, sitting in a wheelchair and wearing what appeared to be a nasal cannula to help with his breathing.
In a photo circulated by the royal family of Francis greeting the royal couple Wednesday, the pontiff was not wearing the breathing aid.
Charles and Camilla are in Italy on a four-day state visit. They received a full ceremonial welcome on Tuesday, meeting President Sergio Mattarella at the Quirinale Palace before viewing a fly-past by aerial acrobatics teams from the Italian and British air forces.
Earlier Wednesday, Charles met Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and became the first British monarch to address a joint session of the Italian parliament.
The trip comes less than two weeks after Charles was briefly hospitalized after experiencing “temporary side effects” from a scheduled cancer treatment, according to Buckingham Palace. While causing him to cancel a day’s worth of engagements, the king’s side effects were not out of the ordinary, according to a royal source, and he appeared to recover quickly.
In February last year, Charles revealed he had been diagnosed with an unspecified form of cancer and stepped away from public duties for several months for treatment. He resumed official engagements in April last year after doctors said they were “very encouraged” by his progress.