King Charles and Queen Camilla to Host Japan State Visit in June

In spring 2020, Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako planned to travel to the United Kingdom for a state visit. That trip was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic, and now, four years later, it is finally happening.

"Their Majesties The Emperor and Empress of Japan have accepted an invitation from His Majesty The King to pay a State Visit to the United Kingdom in late June 2024," Buckingham Palace announced in April, sharing that King Charles and Queen Camilla will host the visit.

Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako attended the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth in September 2022, their first overseas trip since Naruhito's enthronement ceremony in 2019. They did not attend Charles and Camilla's coronation; instead, Crown Prince Akishino and Crown Princess Kiko attended on their behalf.

King Charles has a long history with the Japanese Imperial Family; he's visited the country five times—the most recent trip occuring in October 2019, for the enthronement ceremony. This will be the third state visit he's hosted during his reign; the first, in honor of South Africa's President Ramaphosa, took place in November 2022, and the second, in honor of South Korea's President Yoon Suk Yeol, was in November 2023.

State visits typically include a state dinner on the first night, attended by senior members of the royal family. Per the royal family's website, the state banquet "is a very grand formal occasion held in the Buckingham Palace Ballroom. Around 150 guests are usually invited on the basis of their cultural, diplomatic or economic links to the country being hosted." (For example, South Korean girl band Blackpink attended the last state banquet.) Typically, the royal women wear tiaras—at the last state banquet, Kate Middleton debuted the Strathmore Rose tiara and Queen Camilla wore the Burmese Ruby Tiara.

On June 4, Buckingham Palace shared the schedule for the upcoming Japan State Visit:

Tuesday, June 25: Prince William will greet the Emperor and Empress of Japan, followed by a Ceremonial Welcome at Horse Guards Parade. Emperor Naruhito and King Charles will then inspect the Guard of Honor, then all the royals will take part in a carriage procession to Buckingham Palace. That afternoon, the Japanese royal couple will visit Westminster Abbey, where the Emperor will lay a wreath at the Grave of the Unknown Warrior, and then tour the Abbey. In the evening, there will be a State Banquet at Buckingham Palace.

Wednesday, June 26: Emperor Naruhito will visit the Francis Crick Institute. In the evening, Naruhito and the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh will attend a banquet at the Guildhall hosted by the Lord Mayor of London.

Thursday, June 27: Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako will formally bid goodbye to King Charles and Queen Camilla at the Palace, and then view an exhibit at the Young V&A museum. After, Naruhito will lay a wreath on the tomb of Queen Elizabeth in Windsor. In the afternoon, he will tour the Temperate House at the Royal Botanic Gardens.

Friday, June 28: On their final day, they will visit Oxford, where both the Emperor and the Empress studied.

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