LONDON – LONDON (AP) — King Charles III welcomed the Japanese emperor and empress for a state visit that began on Tuesday, offering the best in pomp and circumstance as the United Kingdom seeks to reinforce its role as the most influential European nation in the Indo-Pacific region .
Emperor Naruhito and Empress of Masako they will attend a banquet hosted by the king, lay a wreath at Westminster Abbey and visit one of Britain’s leading biomedical research institutes. But the emperor began this week’s trip by visiting a site that has special significance: the Thames Barrier.
The retractable flood control gates in the Tamisa river it seemed a natural destination for a royal long interested in the canal that runs through the heart of London. Naruhito studied 18th-century river trade when he was an undergraduate at Oxford University some 40 years ago.
He chronicled the interest in his memoir “The Thames and I,” along with his affection for Britain and its people. The future emperor had the opportunity to experience life outside the palace walls, including ironing, going to the bank and participating in pub crawls.
Tuesday’s ceremonial welcome seemed warm. Charles and Naruhito, who have known each other for years, sat in the back of a carriage and chatted like old friends.
Masako wore a mask in her carriage because of an allergy to horse hair.
Both countries look to each other as a source of stability and mutual security at a time of potentially destabilizing global political change.
“We have a long history of engagement,” said John Nilsson-Wright, head of the Japan and Koreas program at the Center for Geopolitics at the University of Cambridge. “But… this current visit (is) a reflection of both the personal bonds of affection between the two royal families (and) perhaps most important of all, the geopolitical significance of the relationship.”
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