King Charles is said to be “very disappointed” that his brother Prince Andrew’s affair will completely overshadow his historic major visit to the Vatican.
King Charles on Thursday became the first head of the Church of England to pray publicly with a pope since the schism with Rome 500 years ago, in a service led by Leo XIV.
The monarch and his wife, Queen Camilla, joined the American-born pope in the Sistine Chapel for a 30-minute service blending Catholic and Anglican traditions.
It was the first time a reigning English or British monarch had prayed publicly with a pope since King Henry VIII’s break with the Roman Catholic Church in 1534.
King Charles, who is officially supreme governor of the Anglican mother church, earlier had his first meeting with Pope Leo, who took over as head of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics in May following the death of Pope Francis.
The Pope led the service in the Sistine Chapel with the Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell, currently a senior cleric of the Church of England, while Charles and Camilla sat next to them.
King Charles and Camilla arrived at the Vatican almost a week after Prince Andrew announced he was giving up his royal titles.
According to the Fox News Digitalcommenting royal expert Ian Pelham Turner, said: “Clearly King Charles is very disappointed that the Andrew affair is totally overshadowing this major historical event, and it was thought he might face questions from the media, but I think that is very unlikely now as all the media are interested in his thoughts on Andrew.”
