AFP
Royal banquet in London for the Japanese imperial couple on a state visit
Japan’s Emperor Naruhito and his wife Masako will host a lavish banquet at Buckingham Palace on Tuesday evening at the invitation of King Charles III, on the first of a three-day state visit to the United Kingdom. Originally scheduled for 2020, the trip was to be the emperor’s first overseas trip since ascending to the throne in 2019, but was postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The emperor, 64, and empress, 60, arrived in London on Saturday and took part in informal engagements over the weekend, including a meeting with Japanese residents in the UK and a visit to the Thames Barrier, which protects the British capital from flooding. On Tuesday, the imperial couple are due to be greeted in style by Charles III and Queen Camilla on Horse Guards Parade in central London, for a royal salute and the playing of the Japanese anthem. The emperor andThe King will then inspect the guard of honour before a carriage procession to Buckingham Palace for lunch. The 75-year-old sovereign will lead the imperial couple through a special exhibition of objects from the Royal Collection relating to Japan, before heading to Westminster Abbey to lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. The state banquet at Buckingham, a must for any state visit to the United Kingdom, will be held in the evening. In addition to the crowned heads, the guests are expected to include British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and the leader of the opposition, Labour’s Keir Starmer, the clear favourite for the July 4 elections. A possible appearance by Princess Kate, wife of Prince William, heir to the crown, will be particularly scrutinised. She has been in public life for six months, having been treated for cancer, but recently took part in the King’s birthday parade, her only engagement of 2024. Princess Anne, sister of Charles III, will be absent, after it was announced on Monday that she had been hospitalised with “minor injuries and concussion” to the head after an incident apparently involving a horse at her country residence. – “Remembrance” – This trip is Naruhito’s second state visit, after a trip to Indonesia last year. For Charles, this is the third visit he has received since his accession to the throne in September 2022. Like Kate, he has cancer, and resumed his official activities at the end of April, albeit with a reduced programme. Naruhito will visit the Francis Crick Institute, the flagship of British biomedical research, on Wednesday before attending a banquet with the Lord Mayor of the City of London. The imperial couple will bid farewell to the King and Queen at Buckingham Palace on Thursday morning, before visiting a manga exhibition at a branch of the Victoria and Albert Museum. They will then travel privately to Windsor Castle to lay a wreath at the tomb of Elizabeth II, whose funeral they attended in September 2022. During her 70-year reign, the Queen hosted two Japanese emperors: Hirohito in 1971 and his son Emperor Akihito — Naruhito’s father, in 1998. Before his trip, Naruhito stressed that he had been treated as “part of the family” by the royal family while studying at Oxford in the 1980s. He said he was invited to Balmoral Castle in Scotland for a few days during those two years. “I have very fond memories of the Queen driving a car, inviting me to a barbecue … and Prince Philip showing me around driving a carriage himself,” he said during the visit. from a rare press conference. Naruhito and Masako will then head to Oxford on Friday for private visits, from where they will fly back to Japan.jwp/spe/bd/law/lpa
