Japanese Royals Set for Palace Banquet as UK State Visit Begins

AFP/APP

London:Japan’s Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako will attend a lavish banquet thrown by their host King Charles III on Tuesday as they kick off a three-day state visit to the UK.

The couple arrived in Britain on Saturday, and carried out informal engagements over the weekend, including an audience with Japanese nationals in the UK and a visit to the Thames Barrier.

But the official pomp and pageantry begins on Tuesday with a ceremonial welcome at Horse Guards Parade in London, where a guard of honor will give a royal salute and the Japanese national anthem will be played.

Naruhito, 64, and Charles, 75, will then inspect the guard of honour before taking part in a carriage procession to Buckingham Palace for lunch.

The king will take the emperor and empress to see a special exhibition of items from the Royal Collection relating to Japan, before heading to Westminster Abbey to lay a wreath at the Grave of the Unknown Warrior.

The state banquet at Buckingham Palace — the showpiece of any state visit to the UK — will take place in the evening.

The king, Queen Camilla, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Labour Party leader Keir Starmer, who is widely expected to win next month’s election, will all be in attendance.

All eyes are on a possible appearance by heir to the throne Prince William’s wife Catherine, who has been seen at an official engagement only once since December last year, due to cancer treatment. 

Princess Anne, the king’s sister, had been due to attend but she will now not be there as she recovers in hospital with concussion and minor injuries after apparently being injured by a horse.