A Royal expert has issued a worrying health update over King Charles III after spotting his lips looking "quite sore" during his state visit to Italy. The King and Queen marked their 20th wedding anniversary with a historic four-day state visit to Italy with Charles becoming the first British monarch to address both houses of Italy’s parliament. Charles, who recently had a brief stay in hospital after temporary side-effects from his cancer treatment, warned peace is “never to be taken for granted” during the historic address.

During the 22-minute speech, Charles also paid tribute to the close ties between the two nations and said “Italy will always be in my heart”. However, Kate Mansey, Royal Editor and Assistant Editor at The Times, observed that the monarch's lips looked "quite sore" during the address but stressed that he was still on "good form".

Speaking on The Royals with Roya & Kate podcast, Kate said: "His lips looked quite sore. We've been told that he had treatment at the weekend so that he could come out here and do the week without having the week interrupted by his weekly treatment.

"So I wonder if having two courses close together was difficult for him, but he looks jolly in himself, seems like he's on good form. He stood on his feet for 22 minutes in that chamber and didn't seem to tire at all and that is quite an ordeal for anybody to deliver a speech like that in those circumstances during a very busy day."

Following the speech, the King and Queen attended a state banquet in their honour at the president’s official residence the Quirinale Palace in Rome.

Charles and Camilla ended their state visit in the city of Ravenna where the Queen enjoyed a glass of wine and tried her hand at pasta. Before travelling to Ravenna from Rome, a picture of the couple meeting convalescing Pope Francis was released, showing them greeting the pontiff at the Vatican.

The Times' Royal expert said that Charles looked "jolly" during his speech, sections of which were delivered in Italian, but added that "you can see he looks tired".

Charles’s last event in the capital was planting a sapling at the UK ambassador’s residence and he joked about living “long enough” to see the tree grow.

The King’s final words in Ravenna were “arrivederci”, as he spoke to the crowds before leaving with his wife.