By SHOKO RIKIMARU/ Staff Writer
June 22, 2024 at 17:37 JST
Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako leave for Britain from Haneda Airport in Tokyo on June 22. (Koichi Ueda)
Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako left June 22 on an eight-day trip to Britain where they will make nostalgic side visits to the University of Oxford, where they both studied.
They will also visit Windsor Castle, on the outskirts of London, to pay homage to the late Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip.
The imperial couple departed on a government aircraft from Haneda Airport in Tokyo.
Naruhito and Masako will attend a welcoming ceremony for state guests in London and a banquet hosted by King Charles and Queen Camilla at the Buckingham Palace on June 25.
The king will give a welcoming speech at the function, and the emperor will make his own in reply.
Naruhito and Masako are visiting Britain for the first time since September 2022, when they attended the state funeral for Elizabeth II.
They will offer flowers before the graves for the queen and the late Duke of Edinburgh, who died in 2021, during their visit to Windsor Castle, which was arranged at the request of the 64-year-old emperor.
At a news conference on June 19 ahead of the state visit, Naruhito said Japan and Britain, which stood on opposite sides of World War II, have built a close, cooperative partnership.
“We cannot forget the efforts that the peoples of both countries have made to heal the wounds of war,” he said.
Naruhito studied at the University of Oxford between 1983 and 1985.
At the news conference, he said he fondly remembers the time he spent on and off campus every time he re-reads a research paper he wrote after returning to Japan.
Crown Prince Fumihito will take over official duties on behalf of the emperor until Naruhito returns on June 29.
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