Queen Camilla gets candid about her marriage with King Charles on 20th anniversary

Queen Camilla just got candid about what really keeps her marriage to King Charles thriving—even amid royal chaos, travel, and back-to-back state dinners.

While celebrating their 20th wedding anniversary during a whirlwind four-day state visit to Italy, the Queen opened up during a solo engagement in Rome, revealing the real secret behind two decades of royal wedded bliss.

“Friendship, laughing at the same things, and just getting on with life,” Camilla told reporters with icing still on her hands after slicing into an anniversary cake.

She added, “We’re always going in different directions, like ships that pass in the night really. We whizz past each other. In fact, we’ve got a bit of a catch-up this afternoon.”

Though the couple are tied up with royal duties and didn’t exchange gifts in Italy, Camilla teased that something special is in the works once they return home. “No, we’re going to do that when we get back. We’re going to save that,” she said. 

“Otherwise you can’t really… you have to rush it. No, I think we might dig into our pockets and pull something out at the end of the day.”

When pressed further about her surprise for Charles, she smiled and said: “Well I have got something. Because it’s china,” referencing the traditional 20th anniversary gift.

At the evening’s black-tie state banquet, King Charles also got in on the fun, joking in his toast: “I must say it really is very good of you, Mr. President, to lay on this small romantic, candle-lit dinner for two...!”

What is King Charles and Queen Camilla's relationship timeline?

The couple first met in the early 1970s and began dating, but royal expectations and timing led Camilla to marry Andrew Parker Bowles in 1973, while Charles wed Lady Diana Spencer in 1981.

Despite their separate marriages, the pair maintained a close bond, with their affair becoming public in the early 1990s and fuelling widespread controversy.

Following their respective divorces—and Princess Diana’s tragic death in 1997—they made their first public appearance together in 1999 and married in a civil ceremony in 2005, after years of careful image management.

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