AFP
Royal banquet in London for Japanese imperial couple on state visit
Emperor Naruhito of Japan and his wife Masako will host a sumptuous banquet at Buckingham Palace on Tuesday evening, at the invitation of King Charles III, the first of a three-day state visit to the United Kingdom .Initially planned for 2020, this trip was to be the emperor’s first trip abroad since his accession to the throne in 2019, but it was postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.The emperor, 64 years old , and the Empress, 60, arrived in London on Saturday and took part in informal engagements over the weekend, including a meeting with Japanese settled in the United Kingdom and a visit to the Thames Barrier, which is due protect the British capital from marine flooding. On Tuesday, the imperial couple must be welcomed with great pomp by Charles III and Queen Camilla on the main square of Horse Guards Parade in central London, for a royal salute where the Japanese anthem will be played .The Emperor and King will then inspect the guard of honor before a carriage procession to Buckingham Palace for lunch.The 75-year-old sovereign will guide the imperial couple in a special exhibition of items from the related royal collection in 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 expected among the guests are British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and the leader of the opposition, Labor Keir Starmer, arch-favorite for the July 4 elections. A possible appearance of Princess Kate, wife of the prince William, heir to the crown, will be particularly scrutinized. Treated for cancer, she has withdrawn from public life for six months, but recently participated in the king’s birthday parade, her only engagement in 2024. Princess Anne, sister of Charles III, will be absent , after Monday’s announcement that he had been hospitalized for “minor injuries and concussion” to the head after an incident apparently involving a horse at his country home.- “Souvenir” -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, suffering from cancer, he resumed his official activities at the end April, with a lighter program. Naruhito will visit the Francis Crick Institute on Wednesday, the flagship of British biomedical research before participating in a banquet with the Lord Mayor of the City of London. The imperial couple will bid farewell to the king and to the Queen at Buckingham on Thursday morning, before visiting an exhibition devoted to manga in a branch of the Victoria and Albert Museum. Then they will go privately to Windsor Castle to lay a wreath on the tomb of Elizabeth II, in funeral which they attended in September 2022. During her 70-year reign, the queen hosted two emperors of Japan: Hirohito in 1971 and her son Emperor Akihito — father of Naruhito, in 1998. Before her trip, Naruhito stressed that he had been welcomed as “a member of the family” by the royal family, during his studies at Oxford in the 1980s. He said that he had been invited for a few days to Balmoral Castle, in Scotland, during these two years.”I have very good memories of the Queen at the wheel of a car, inviting me to a barbecue (…) and of Prince Philip showing me around the surroundings driving a team himself” , he said at 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
