King Charles and Queen Camilla release official 20th wedding anniversary photos

The King and Queen have released three official 20th wedding anniversary photographs before their big day.

Charles and Camilla were pictured smiling soon after arriving in Rome for the start of a four-day state visit which will celebrate ties between the UK and Italy.

The couple were photographed at the Villa Wolkonsky the official Rome residence of Edward Llewellyn, the UK’s ambassador to Italy and San Marino, after their UK government jet landed at Ciampino Airport with an F-35 fighter jet escort.

In one image Charles and Camilla, wearing an Anna Valentine white and beige coat, are in the grounds of the home and in the remaining photographs are pictured near the Neronian arches, a branch of the Aqua Claudia, a Roman aqueduct supplying Rome.

The Queen also wore a Faberge lily of the valley brooch reportedly given to the the late Queen Mother by Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev during his official visit to the UK in 1956.

The King and Queen will spend their 20th wedding anniversary evening as guests of honour at a state banquet held in Rome.

Charles and Camilla are expected to be joined by leading figures from Italian life at the black tie dinner, held as part of the couple’s state visit.

The head of state and his consort wed in a civil ceremony at Windsor Guildhall on April 9 2005 following a romance that began when they were in their early 20s.

Charles first met fun, confident Camilla on Windsor Great Park polo field in 1970 when he had just left the University of Cambridge, a year before he joined the Royal Navy.

No marriage proposal came despite the closeness between the pair and when the relationship cooled after Charles dedicated himself to his Navy career, Camilla wed cavalry officer Andrew Parker Bowles in 1973 and Charles later married Diana, Princess of Wales,in 1981.

After Charles and Camilla both divorced - and Diana died in 1997 - Camilla’s eventual emergence as Charles’ long-term partner was part of a carefully planned PR campaign masterminded by the heir to the throne’s spin doctor Mark Bolland.

Their first public appearance together was outside the Ritz hotel in London in 1999, dubbed Operation Ritz, where the mass of waiting photographers had been tipped off.

At their wedding reception, held the same day as the Grand National, Queen Elizabeth II said about their romance: “They have overcome Becher’s Brook and The Chair and all kinds of other terrible obstacles. They have come through and I’m very proud and wish them well.

“My son is home and dry with the woman he loves.”