Japan’s Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako will arrive in Britain on Saturday ahead of a three-day state visit hosted by King Charles III.
The royal couple will fly in from Japan and attend private events on Sunday and Monday before official events begin on Tuesday.
The main attraction will be the state banquet at Buckingham Palace, with all eyes on the possible attendance of Catherine, wife of heir to the throne Prince William, who has been little seen in recent months because of cancer treatment.
Naruhito, 64, will also visit Windsor Castle, west of London, to lay a wreath at the tomb of Queen Elizabeth II, whose state funeral he and the monarch, 60, attended in September 2022.
Amid the general election campaign in Britain, it was not immediately clear whether there would be any meeting with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
Visiting heads of state usually hold talks with the prime minister and opposition leader, or address MPs in Parliament.
But there are no MPs because parliament was dissolved ahead of the July 4 vote.
The visit will be the monarch’s second official state visit since ascending the throne in 2019, after he visited Indonesia last year.
This will be the third state visit for 75-year-old Charles since he ascended the throne following the death of his mother.
‘fond memories’
Like Catherine, he was also diagnosed with cancer earlier this year, but has returned to public duties on a limited basis, and was seen this week at the Royal Ascot horse racing meeting with his wife, Queen Camilla.
Catherine, the future queen, widely known as Kate, is currently undergoing chemotherapy and has stepped away from public life to allow for her recovery.
She returned to public life last week when she attended a military parade in London to mark Charles’ official birthday.
Elizabeth, whose 70-year reign began in 1952, hosted two Japanese state guests during her accession: Emperor Hirohito in 1971 and her eldest son Emperor Akihito – Naruhito’s father – in 1998.
Speaking in Tokyo ahead of the trip, Naruhito said the British royal family treated him “like family” while he studied in England in the 1980s.
Naruhito said that during his two years at Oxford University, he was invited to Balmoral Castle in Scotland for a few days.
“I have very fond memories of the Queen driving me around and inviting me to a barbecue and of Prince Philip driving me around himself,” he told reporters at a rare press conference.
The programme of the state visit will also include a guard of honour ceremony, a procession at Buckingham Palace, and visits to museums and the Francis Crick Institute, a biomedical research centre in London.
Before departing on Friday, the Japanese Emperor and Empress will visit Oxford, where they both studied, for private events.
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