King Charles had longed to visit the Vatican to meet the Pope during the Jubilee year declared by the Catholic Church and, in the end, their encounter came just days before Francis died.

The King met the Pontiff on April 9 2025 with Queen Camilla at his side. It was a brief audience between the Head of the Roman Catholic Church and the Supreme Governor of the Church of England but for all the grandeur of their titles, it was a time filled with warmth and a shared understanding of the importance of dissolving divides.

For centuries, British monarchs went nowhere near the Vatican. In fact, Catholics are the only faith group still barred from holding the throne. But from the time of Charles III’s great grandfather, George V, a softening of once intransigent barriers has occurred so that by the time of the latest Vatican visit, this was a meeting of men and of minds rather than a religious battleground.

King Charles has made stronger ties between all faith groups one of the main focal points of his reign. In recent days, he was criticised by some on social media for an Easter message that embraced the spiritual core of other faiths. The King kept calm and, on Easter Day, shared his own faith very publicly with a simple statement said by Christians around the world on that most holy of days ”He is Risen”.

They were words said, too, by Pope Francis who appeared on the balcony of the loggia at St. Peter’s on Easter Sunday to greet the faithful. Although his Urbi et Orbi message was read for him by an archbishop, he then toured the square to see as many people as possible. The day would also include a brief audience with the US Vice President, JD Vance.

That would prove to be his final meeting with a fellow world statesperson for the role of Pope is political as well as spiritual.

In that context, the meeting with King Charles was originally intended to be far more formal. The King was set to make a State Visit to the Vatican for the Jubilee year until bilateral pneumonia put Pope Francis in hospital for several weeks. He had returned to his home at the Casa Santa Marta but the State Visit was postponed. Instead, The King and the Pope, with Queen Camilla, met privately inside the Vatican with the hope that the State Visit might come at a later point.

Instead, King Charles will join other world leaders in mourning a man who took on a difficult role and always urged humility. But The King will also grieve privately for a man who, like him, urged unity rather than division. The final message of Pope Francis said that ”love has triumphed over hate”. It is a belief he shares with The King and one that bound two people who found themselves in positions laden with ancient antagonism towards one another but who found not just common ground but mutual respect and friendship.