Last month, the monarch and Queen Camilla met with the late Pope Francis while visiting Rome. On Friday, the royal couple sent their “most sincere good wishes” to the newly elected pontiff.

King Charles and Prince William will not attend the inauguration of Pope Leo XIV next Sunday Buckingham Palace has said. Instead, Charles' younger brother will travel to the Vatican to attend Pope Leo XIV’s formal installation as pope at a mass in St Peter’s Square on Sunday.