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 today, 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.
No specific date for the Japan state visit has been set yet, but we'll update this as soon as we learn more.
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