20 YEARS OF LOVE & LAUGHTER

Two decades into marriage, the King and Queen are as steadfast as ever in their devotion to one another

- JACKIE BROWN

Lighthearted companionship is the key to King Charles and Camilla's long-lasting happiness, as the Queen herself revealed when they toasted their 20th wedding anniversary on April 9.

“Twenty years - who could believe it?” she told journalists that day. “What is the secret? I don’t know…Well, I suppose it’s just friendship, really. Laughing at the same things, getting on with life.” Then, with a smile, she added, “We are always going in different directions, like ships that pass in the night, really. We whizz past one another.”

She has a point. Their anniversary fell during a busy state visit in Rome to mark the 2025 Jubilee Year for the Catholic Church. Attending a glittering – and crowded – banquet hosted by Italian president Sergio Mattarella, Charles couldn’t let the special day go by unnoticed. “I must say, it is really very good of you, Mr. President, to lay on this small, romantic candlelit dinner for two,” he joked in his speech.