King Charles and Queen Camilla Attend Glam State Banquet in Italy on Their 20th Wedding Anniversary

King Charles and Queen Camilla are celebrating a landmark wedding anniversary with a memorable evening in Italy.

The King and Queen marked 20 years of marriage on April 9, which coincided with a state banquet in Rome during their state visit to Italy. King Charles, 76, and Queen Camilla, 77, are abroad from April 7 to April 11 for their first international trip of the year.

State banquets are a rich tradition and an important part of state visits, with diplomatic dinners held to honor a visiting head of state. The banquet was hosted by Italian President Sergio Mattarella at the Palazzo Quirinale, and opera singer Andrea Bocelli — who performed at King Charles' Coronation Concert in May 2023 — was among the guests.

King Charles looked sharp in a suit and black bow tie, sporting his U.K. Order of Merit ribbon around his neck with the Italian Order of Merit star. Queen Camilla wore a green lace gown by Fiona Clare. She accessorized with a special necklace featuring turquoise and diamonds that belonged to her late mother, Rosalind Shand.

The future King Charles married then-Camilla Parker Bowles in a civil ceremony at Windsor Guildhall on April 9, 2005, tying the knot more than 35 years after they first met. Sparks flew when the two were introduced by a friend in 1970, though they went on to marry other people.

Charles and Camilla later rekindled their romance and eventually split from their respective partners, with Charles' divorce from Princess Diana finalized a year before her death in a Paris car crash in 1997.

As the world grieved, Charles and Camilla's relationship was "forced back into the shadows," Caroline Graham wrote in the book Camilla and Charles: The Love Story.

They slowly took their love public in the years that followed. Camilla supported Charles through royal life, including his accession as King in September 2022 and his cancer diagnosis that was announced in February 2024, with treatment ongoing.

Dr. Paul Atkin, CEO of The Teatro San Cassiano Group, met the couple during an engagement in Rome on April 8 and tells PEOPLE that their close bond was apparent.

"What I witnessed between King Charles and Queen Camilla was profound – they're genuinely, deeply in love," he says. "There's something extraordinarily moving about seeing that level of devotion, especially considering all they've weathered together."

"What impressed me equally was their unwavering commitment to duty. When you consider that King Charles is undergoing cancer treatment, the fact that they're maintaining such a rigorous schedule of engagements speaks volumes about their dedication to service. They appeared genuinely energized rather than depleted by their royal duties," Atkin adds.

"It was an afternoon I'll never forget — not just for the honor of meeting royalty, but for witnessing such authentic warmth, intellectual curiosity and devotion to both duty and each other," he said.

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In addition to a new video shared on their social media recapping their love story through photos, King Charles and Queen Camilla also posed for new portraits to mark their milestone 20th anniversary.

Taken shortly after their arrival in Italy on Monday, the couple shared sweet looks in photos captured by Chris Jackson at Villa Wolkonsky in Rome.

The royal couple arrived in Italy on Monday and toured the Colosseum in Rome on Tuesday, before the big banquet and the King's historic address to a joint session of the Italian Parliament on Wednesday.

The couple will wrap the trip in Ravenna on Thursday and travel back to the U.K.