Inside King Charles and Queen Camilla’s romantic weekend away after Italy | Royal | News

Having landed in Aberdeen on Thursday evening, the King and Queen made their way to Birkhall on the Balmoral Estate. The idyllic bolt hole in the Scottish highlands, with its sprawling gardens, tartan walls and big open fires gives it a feel of a normal house rather than a royal residence.

And Charles and Camilla have many fond memories there, having honeymooned there after their Windsor Guildhall wedding in April 2005. It’s therefore the perfect place for them to celebrate their 20 years of marriage.

In a candid chat with UK newspapers on their anniversary on Wednesday, the Queen said they would mark the occasion when they returned from Italy. “We are going to save that,” she said. “Otherwise you have to rush it.”

A romantic weekend at what is affectionately called their “marital home” falls at the perfect time too, at the conclusion of their four-day state visit.

They eased into their uncharacteristically relaxed tour on Monday evening with an airport arrival before starting formal engagements the following morning.

Usually, the King and Queen pack in some 10 engagements a day, but due to the postponement of the state visit to the Vatican, the Rome engagements were spread over two days instead of one.

Just four joint engagements were undertaken on Tuesday, while three joint visits and three solo engagements – two by the King and one by the Queen – took place on Wednesday.

This allowed the couple to take a breath, have a bit of downtime and even stop for lunch – not something that he usually enjoys at home, let alone on a foreign tour.

But as the trip came under two weeks from his brief hospital admission after he experienced temporary side effects from his regular cancer treatment, the restbite couldn’t have been better timed.

The King is still reluctant to adopt a lighter schedule as he feels he has time to make up after he was forced to step back from public engagement following his initial diagnosis last February.

It’s a constant battle at home, as the Queen is keen for him to take it easy, but as she’s admitted herself many times – it’s just not in the King’s nature to put his feet up.

And as for how the tour went? I’m not sure it can be seen as anything but a success.

Charles and Camilla were warmly received wherever they went, huge crowds came out to see them, they managed to squeeze in a private visit to meet the Pope and the King delivered one of his best speeches of late. His address in Parliament dominated the Italian press – highlighting exactly what royal tours are all about: soft power.

The palace will be hoping that the next trip in the autumn runs equally as smoothly.

Prince Harry travelled from the High Court to wartorn Ukraine last week – the irony of which is not lost on many.

He went from arguing that he doesn’t feel safe in the UK, to travelling to a country engaged in an active conflict with Russia.

The duke insists it’s only his home country that he feels unsafe in, having taken trips to Colombia and Nigeria with his wife last year – countries that have travel alerts in place amid fears of violence, terrorism and kidnapping.

He is also reported to have missed a friend’s wedding in Chelsea, London, as he felt it was too high risk without a security detail.

That’s why his battle for protection when in Britain is a source of great tension for the Duke, as he mistakenly believes his father has the power to intervene in the outcome.

His misguided view that the issue rests at the King’s door. The decision has nothing to do with the monarch – and he couldn’t intervene in a case that is now in the hands of the courts. But the truth isn’t always high on Harry’s priority list.

One thing that surprised me last week was that while the crowds in Italy turned out in their droves to meet both of their royal guests – it was the Queen who people seemed most excited to see.

Everywhere I went there were chants of “Camilla” as wellwishers craned their necks and thrust their phones forward to capture even the tiniest glimpse of Her Majesty.

The warm reception is surely a reminder that after 20 years, the murky shadows of the past are long forgotten on the continent and the Queen has quite rightly earned the respect she deserves – especially after she stoically took on the role as the Firm’s rock in the wake of last year’s unprecedented royal health crisis.

Next weekend we’ll see the Royal Family out in force for the annual Easter Mattins service at Windsor Castle.

Last year it was a scaled-back affair, as the Princess of Wales had just commenced her cancer treatment and doctors sought to safeguard the King’s health on his first public appearance since his diagnosis.

But this year a much larger turnout is expected.

The Wales family are understood to be going as a family of five, and the Tindall’s are also set to return to the staple in the royal diary.

One person who isn’t expected to be on the invite list however is the disgraced Prince Andrew, who continues his retreat from the public eye amid the Chinese spy scandal.

The Prince of Wales continues to win the relatability ratings with his football antics, with his interview ahead of Aston Villa’s Champions League quarter final clash going down well with footy fans.

His love of the team and the sport is clearly genuine and that passion helps the public see him as something other than a future King.

And he’s clearly passed on his enthusiasm to his eldest son Prince George, 11, who celebrated – and then commiserated as they lost 3-1.