Emperors of Japan leave for the United Kingdom for Elizabeth II’s funeral

Tokyo, 17 (EFE). The Emperors of Japan, Naruhito and Masako, today left for the United Kingdom for the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II, on their first trip abroad since assuming the throne in 2019.

For the Empress, who has been battling for years the stress-induced illness, it also marks her first trip abroad since attending the coronation of King Tonga’s sixth Tubu in 2015.

It is not a tradition for Japan’s emperors to attend funerals, which it did only once, when Honorary Emperor Akihito and his wife Michiko were present at the funeral of Belgium’s King Baudouin in 1993.

Neither Akihito nor Michiko, 88 and 87 respectively, will go to London this time.

The trip by Naruhito and Masako, which shows the strong ties between the British royal family and the Chrysanthemum Throne, comes after the Japanese CEO confirmed their attendance following an invitation from two representatives from the London government.

In this way, the Japanese Prime Minister, Fumio Kishida, will not attend the ceremony to be held next Monday, September 19, at Westminster Abbey.

Akihito himself attended the coronation of Elizabeth II in 1953 on behalf of his father, then Emperor Hirohito, who visited the United Kingdom in 1971.

The British monarch then visited Japan in 1975, and Akihito, already crowned emperor, traveled again in 1998 to the United Kingdom, where he will return in 2012 to attend the Diamond Jubilee celebrations of Elizabeth II.

The British royal family invited Naruhito and Masako to visit the two islands after they took the throne in 2019, but the outbreak interrupted the trip.

The royal couple will land at London’s Stansted Airport on Sunday afternoon (BST) and will both stay at the Claridge Hotel before returning to Tokyo on Tuesday. EFE

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