Pope, King Charles pray together in historic first

 Pope Leo XIV during a meeting with Britain's King Charles III and Britain's Queen Camilla in The Vatican. [AFP]

King Charles III, the head of the Church England, became the first British monarch Thursday to pray publicly with a pope in a Vatican service led by Leo XIV.

The ceremony in the Sistine Chapel, broadcast live by the Vatican's official news service, came during a state visit by the 76-year-old monarch and his wife Queen Camilla.

It was the first time a reigning English or British monarch has prayed publicly with a pope since English king Henry VIII broke with Rome 500 years ago.

Triggered by the then pope's refusal to annul Henry's marriage so he could marry another woman, the schism made the monarch head of the separate Church of England.

Charles and Camilla earlier had their 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 US pontiff led the service beneath Michelangelo's spectacular ceiling frescoes with the archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell, currently the senior cleric of the Church of England.

Charles and Camilla sat at the front of the chapel alongside the pope and the archbishop, facing an audience including Catholic and Anglican clerics, politicians and diplomats.

The service brought together Catholic and Anglican traditions, with the choir from the Sistine Chapel joined by that from Saint George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, one of the king's residences.

It was centred on conservation and protecting the environment, a cause long championed by Charles.

The 76-year-old monarch, officially supreme governor of the Church of England, flew to Rome on Wednesday evening for what Buckingham Palace described as a "historic" trip.

The royals were greeted at the Apostolic Palace on Thursday morning by a ceremonial guard of honour by the Swiss Guard, the pope's colourful private bodyguards, before a private meeting with Leo in the papal library.

The visit comes at a delicate time for Charles following new revelations about his brother Prince Andrew, who is mired in a scandal surrounding late US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Andrew announced on Friday he would relinquish his title as Duke of York, reportedly under pressure from Charles. He had already stepped back from royal duties in 2019.