June 25 (UPI) — The emperor and empress of Japan were in Britain Tuesday for a long-awaited state visit that was originally dated to take place four years ago.
Emperor Naruhito of Japan and his wife, Empress Masako, arrived Saturday at London’s Stansted airport ahead of their official three-day state visit to Britain.
It officially began Tuesday with King Charles III, 75, and Queen Camilla formally greeting the royal couple before Emperor Naruhito was invited to inspect the troops of the 1st Battalion Welsh Guards.
Prince William, the prince of Wales, greeted and visited the royal guests earlier in the day. Then the heads of state took part in the ceremonial carriage ride to Buckingham Palace where the empress, 60, was seen wearing a mask, reportedly a precautionary measure due to a horse hair allergy.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, Foreign Secretary David Cameron and Home Secretary James Cleverly were also on hand for the official welcome.
State Visits to Britain generally take place twice a year in the winter and early summer, and “are an opportunity for building relationships with other countries,” according to Buckingham Palace.
Naruhito, 64, succeeded his father, now styled as the Emperor Emeritus Akihito, when Akihito abdicated the Chrysanthemum Throne in May 2019.
This visit was originally set for 2020, before Charles ascended the throne on the death of his mother, before the COVID-19 pandemic hit the world stage.
In a rare news conference for a Japanese royal ahead of the state visit, the emperor said the British royal family treated him “like family” during his time studying abroad in the country at Oxford University in the 1980s during the reign of his grandfather, Emperor Hirohito.
“I have very fond memories of the queen driving a car and inviting me to a barbecue,” the emperor said of a past visit to Balmoral Castle to the royal family’s private retreat in Scotland, “and Prince Philip showing me around by driving a carriage himself.”
Amid the cancer diagnoses of King Charles and Catherine, the princess of Wales, the Japanese imperial couple arrive as the king’s sister, Princess Anne, the Princess Royal and second oldest child of the late Queen Elizabeth II, was still in hospital Monday after sustaining a concussion on Sunday the day after Japan’s delegation set foot in Britain.
A wreath will be placed by the emperor at the tomb of the unknown soldier in Westminster Abbey before a return to Buckingham Palace for a state banquet.
The state banquet Tuesday evening local time at Buckingham Palace in London will see King Charles give remarks, where Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Labour leader Keir Starmer are also slated to be in attendance the night before the two party leaders go face-to-face in a televised debate ahead of Britain’s July 4 election less than 10 days away.
The emperor and empress will undertake “a number of” other engagements over the next few days ahead of their formal farewell Thursday back at Buckingham Palace, including the laying of a wreath at the tomb of Elizabeth II in St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle.
