Photo/Illutration Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako attend an annual tree-planting ceremony in Aichi Prefecture in 2019, their first official duty outside Tokyo after Naruhito’s ascension in May 2019. (Pool)

Emperor Naruhito plans to attend the state funeral for Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II and is awaiting Cabinet approval before a formal announcement is made, sources said.

In the meantime, the Imperial Household Agency is coordinating efforts to arrange the trip, the sources added.

While it is unusual for the emperor to attend the funeral of a member of a foreign royal family, sources cited the traditional close ties between the imperial family and the British royal family as the reason behind the decision for him to attend.

Naruhito was invited to visit Britain in 2020 after he ascended the Chrysanthemum Throne, but those plans were scuttled by the outbreak of the global novel coronavirus pandemic.

It would have been his first overseas trip after becoming emperor following the abdication of his father, now known as Emperor Emeritus Akihito.

Sources said a decision on whether Empress Masako would accompany her husband would be made after considering her health, which has been an issue for many years.

Both Naruhito and Masako studied in Britain before they married.

Imperial Household Agency officials said the imperial couple were observing three days of mourning from Sept. 9 for the late queen, the world’s longest-reigning monarch who died Sept. 8 aged 96 after 70 years on the throne.

Emperor Emeritus Akihito and Empress Emerita Michiko were also observing a similar period of mourning.

According to agency officials, Akihito and Michiko attended the state funeral in 1993 for Belgian King Baudouin, the only other time an emperor has attended a state funeral for a foreign head of state or royal family member.

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