Japan’s Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako will attend a lavish banquet hosted by their host King Charles III on Tuesday at the start of a three-day state visit to Britain, Japanese media reported.
The couple arrived in Britain on Saturday and held informal meetings over the weekend, including an audience with Japanese citizens in Britain and a visit to the Thames Barrier.
But the official ceremony will begin on Tuesday with a ceremonial welcome at Horse Guards Parade in London, where a guard of honour will give the royal salute and the Japanese anthem will be played.
Naruhito, 64, and Charles, 75, will then inspect the guard of honour before travelling in a carriage procession to Buckingham Palace for lunch.
The King will take the Emperor and Empress to a special exhibition of Japan-related items from the Royal Collection before travelling to Westminster Abbey to lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior.
In the evening there will be a state banquet at Buckingham Palace, the highlight of any state visit to the UK. It will be attended by the King, Queen Camilla, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Labour Party leader Keir Starmer, who is expected to win next month’s election.
All eyes are on the possible appearance of Crown Prince William’s wife Kate, who has only been seen at an official event once since December last year due to cancer treatment.
Princess Anne, the King’s sister, was due to attend the event but will now be absent as she recovers in hospital with concussion and minor injuries apparently sustained from a fall from a horse.
Building bilateral ties
The trip will be the emperor’s second official state visit since his accession to the throne in 2019, following a visit to Indonesia last year.
The trip was originally due to take place in 2020 and was to be the emperor’s first overseas visit since he ascended the Chrysanthemum Throne, but was postponed due to the pandemic.
For Charles, it will be the third state visit since he became king following the death of his mother Queen Elizabeth II.
The visit comes as Britain seeks to strengthen ties with Japan in a bid to become the most influential European country in the Indo-Pacific region. In October 2020, Britain announced an economic partnership with Japan as the first major international trade agreement it has entered into since leaving the EU earlier that year.
