I’m not sure their police officers felt the same from the looks on their faces, but the King and Queen, we’re told, were on a “huge high” after making their way through the scrum of entourage, security and locals while on walkabout in Ravenna.
It’s no wonder then that just a few days earlier, while visiting a school in Rome, Camilla told members of the British press that we should “dream on” if we thought the King‘s health worries were going to slow him down.
“He loves his work and it keeps him going,” she said. “I think it’s wonderful, you know, if you’ve been ill and you are recovering, you’re getting better and now he wants to do more and more and more.
“That’s the problem… that’s what he’s driven by. Helping others.”
It’s a sentiment shared by those who work around him.
Has anyone told him to take it easy? “We’ve all tried!” was the reply from one senior palace official.
Part of the problem though is apparently the amount the King reads.
“Because he reads a lot he learns a lot,” they added. “And in this role, as when Prince of Wales, he knows he is fortunate to be in a position to make a difference, and is determined to do just that.”
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You could see it on this four-day visit to Italy. The couple, don’t forget both of them are in their mid-70s, nipped around all the key sites in Rome, posing for those obligatory tour photo opportunities, including outside the colosseum.
Not ‘about tourism’
I know the palace weren’t happy with headlines such as “Roman holiday”, or references to them being like tourists.
A palace insider remarking these visits are not “about tourism; there is a very serious business behind them”.
That was made abundantly clear in the King’s speech to the Italian parliament; the significance undoubtedly heightened, with the trip coming at a time of great economic challenges and great military uncertainty with what’s happening in Ukraine.
The Royal Family have long been used as part of the post-Brexit charm offensive, the King couldn’t have delivered his line any clearer when he stressed that we remain a European country.
A senior palace source said, there’s “no accident that it should happen after the visits to France and Germany – and I think we saw from the reaction of the Italian government… with the visit to Ravenna and those huge crowds of enthusiastic Italians”.
King could meet Trump this summer
They added: “All of it really showed soft power at its best – something of which the UK can be rightly proud and which delivers huge benefit for UK interests overseas.”
But a more complex meeting with another president could soon lie ahead.
Remember that letter delivered by Keir Starmer to Donald Trump from the King, suggesting a more personal meeting as well as a state visit?
There are rumours that sometime this summer Mr Trump could meet the King in Scotland.
If those rumours are correct, I’d put my bets on either the end of June after Ascot or the beginning of July, or towards the end of August or early September, when the King is up there anyway for his summer holidays.
We know that the US president hugely admires the monarch, but you wonder how they might navigate one particularly tricky topic, Canada.
The King as their head of state, Mr Trump threatening to make it his 51st state.
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Recent meetings between the monarch and Canada’s outgoing and newly appointed prime minister’s we’re told were simply “normal expressions of support”.
More state visits
But a palace insider was keen to emphasise “showing support for Canada is something he’s always done and that he will continue to do”.
The palace at the moment won’t confirm when a meeting with Trump may take place, only guiding that we will see more inward and outward state visits this year.
One thing that is guaranteed when it does happen, Number 10 will be hoping for more of what we’ve seen this week, the personal touch.
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That’s partly why Italy has been seen as a great triumph, with the crowds calling out not for the King or Queen but for “Carlo” and “Camilla”.
“There is something very powerful about a constitutional monarchy,” a palace official said.
“Something very powerful about an institution where people have grown up knowing the King.
“They’ve known him since the day he was born, they’ve known him his whole life or their whole life, so when they engage with him it’s as if they’re engaging with someone they feel they genuinely know on a personal level.”
An asset to Number 10
This week’s 20th wedding anniversary was a reminder that the King and Queen haven’t always been so warmly received.
But whatever you think of the royals, there is a skill in what they do.
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I recently saw the King next to Sir Keir Starmer on a visit to Cornwall, the prime minister holding back as the King made a beeline to make small talk with a crowd of people.
As we saw in Italy, he is an asset that Number 10 know they can deploy.
Of course there is a caveat at the moment, he is still having cancer treatment. I understand doctors are happy with the King’s current workload, and it’s said his treatment is going tremendously well.
Positive news at a time when the government certainly needs him on top form, with an American president still to charm.
