The King has warned peace is “never to be taken for granted” during an historic address to Italy’s parliament. Charles paid tribute to the close ties between the two nations and said: “Italy will always be in my heart”, as he became the first British monarch to address the house on his 18th official visit to the country.
In a 22 minute speech, where the King impressively switched between Italian and English, Charles said it had been “one of the pleasures of my life to come to know this irresistible country”. On the third day of his State Visit alongside the Queen, Charles spoke of his admiration for the Italian way of life and drew laughter from his audience when jokingly asking for forgiveness “for occasionally corrupting your wonderful cuisine!” adding: “we do so with the greatest possible affection”.
The monarch pointed to long held political and security ties that have bonded our two nations and praised Italy for standing up to Russian aggression in the wake of its brutal invasion of Ukraine. Drawing a standing ovation in the middle of his speech lasting half a minute, Charles honoured the sacrifice of tens of thousands of British and Allied servicemen who fought for the liberation of Italy from Nazi rule during the Second World War.
Ahead of the 80th anniversary of VE Day on May 8, the King said we must all “remember the terrible price of war”. In front of his wife Camilla and politicians gathered in the imposing Chamber of Deputies in Rome, he added: “We are two peoples, and two nations, whose stories are deeply intertwined, including, of course, with that of our European continent. We are both, after all, European countries.
“In a few weeks’ time, we will mark the eightieth anniversary of the end of the Second World War in Europe. We will remember the terrible price of war – and of the precious gift of peace. Today sadly the echoes of those times, which we fervently hope had been consigned to history, reverberate across our continent.
“Our younger generations can see in the news every day on their smartphones and tablets that peace is never to be taken, never to be taken for granted. Britain and Italy stand today united in defence of the democratic values we share.”
Describing himself as “an old friend” of the nation, Charles spoke about the purpose of his visit to “to reaffirm the deep friendship between the United Kingdom and Italy”. In a pointed reference to his own mortality, given his age and recent cancer battle, Charles pledged “to do all in my power to strengthen that friendship even further in the time that is granted to me as King”.
In a lighter moment that drew raucous laughter from his hosts, Charles thanked the Romans for giving Britons the idea of putting a King’s head on coins, adding: “So I am especially grateful to them.” Further noting the shared values of both nations, Charles made way for another joke by recognising the famous Italian general who paved the way for Italian unification in the mid 19th century and subsequently being recognised with another British classic – the humble biscuit.
He said: “And another foundation in which Britain is proud to have played its part is the support our country leant to the unification of Italy. As Garibaldi landed near Marsala in Sicily in May 1860, two Royal Navy warships stood watch. Garibaldi was, as you know, hugely admired in Britain. When he visited in 1864 to thank the British people for their support, Garibaldimania gripped the country. Some half a million people came to greet him in London. “There was even a biscuit named after Garibaldi – the ultimate mark of British esteem!”
The King went on to seamlessly draw comparisons between the great Italian poet Virgil and our very own Shakespeare, Dante and Byron, cementing ties between two countries with a love of the arts.
So too did he applaud “Italian entrepreneurs for their pioneering achievements” and was greeted with a 30 second standing ovation for remarking on the legacy of the late Italian prosecutor Giovanni Falcone, who spent his working life trying to overthrow the power of the Sicilian Mafia before he was assassinated in 1992.
Quoting the Italian poet and philosopher Dante, Charles finished his speech in Italian with a line from one of his famous texts, saying: “Confident – whatever the challenges and uncertainties we inevitably face as nations and in our neighbourhood, now and in the future – that we can, and we will, overcome them together.”
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