Prince and Mrs. Akishino will make an official visit to the United Kingdom for four to four days to attend the coronation of King Charles.

Mr. and Mrs. Akishino will depart for the United Kingdom on a government plane from Haneda Airport in Tokyo on the morning of the 4th, and are scheduled to arrive in London in the afternoon of the 4th local time.

On the afternoon of the 5th, he will attend a reception hosted by King Charles at Buckingham Palace.

Then, on the morning of the 6th, the coronation of the King will be held at Westminster Abbey.

According to the Imperial Household Agency, the British Royal Family invited His Majesty the Emperor to the coronation ceremony, and this time, Prince Akishino will attend with Noriko on behalf of Her Majesty the Emperor.

This is the first official visit to the United Kingdom and they are scheduled to return to Japan on the afternoon of the 7th, Japan time.

History of the Imperial Family and the British Royal Family

The imperial family and the British royal family have been close since ancient times.

The beginning of post-war exchanges with the British royal family dates back to Showa 28, when the Crown Prince, the Crown Prince, attended the coronation ceremony of Queen Elizabeth II in London as a representative of Emperor Showa.

It was the Emperor's first visit to a foreign country, and although there was still severe public sentiment in Britain at the time against Japan who fought in World War II, the Queen warmly welcomed the Emperor by watching horse races with him.

In Showa 46, Emperor Hirohito visited England with Empress Kajun. At a dinner hosted by the Queen during her stay, Queen Elizabeth II referred to the previous war, saying, "I cannot say that the relationship between the peoples of our two countries has always been peaceful and friendly, but this experience makes us determined that the same thing should never happen again."

Four years later, in Showa 4, Queen Elizabeth II visited Japan for the first time with her husband, Prince Philip, and was welcomed by many people, visiting Kyoto and Ise Jingu Shrine in Mie Prefecture.

During this visit, the Emperor and his wife invited the Queen to the Togu Imperial Palace in the Akasaka Imperial Estate, where Their Majesties the Emperor and Prince Akishino took a walk in the garden together.

The following year, in Showa 51, the Emperor and his wife visited England and enjoyed horseback riding at Windsor Castle and other places with Queen Elizabeth. Exchanges between the Emperor and his wife continued with the British royal family, and when they attended an event celebrating the 24th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth's accession to the throne in Heisei 60, the Emperor was seated next to the Queen at a luncheon and chatted intimately for more than an hour.

His Majesty the Emperor studied at the University of Oxford in England for two years from Showa 58. After that, he visited England many times, such as attending the wedding of Prince Andrew, the second son of the Queen.

In the first year of Reiwa after her accession to the throne, when Princess Anne, the eldest daughter of Queen Elizabeth, visited Japan, she invited the princess and her husband to her residence for a meeting.

In addition, the enthronement ceremony of His Majesty the Emperor was attended by King Charles, who was the Crown Prince at the time.

At the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II in September last year, His Majesty the Emperor attended the funeral together with the Empress.

Mr. Akishino: What is your relationship with the UK?

This is the first time for Mr. Akishino to make an official visit to the United Kingdom, but he studied abroad at the Department of Zoology at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom for two years from Showa 63 and conducted research on freshwater fish in Southeast Asia.

According to the Imperial Household Agency, while studying abroad, he was surprised and delighted to see that many specimens necessary for research were preserved at the British Museum of Natural History.

In addition, at facilities that collect and raise a variety of poultry, including endangered species, a large number of poultry are photographed and collected as materials, which has led to research on fish and poultry over the years since then.

In addition, in Heisei 2, he visited the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew in England with Noriko, and two years later, he contributed a preface to an exhibition of botanical paintings of Japan held by the botanical gardens.