King Charles III received Japan's Emperor Naruhito on Tuesday, as he officially began a three-day state visit to the United Kingdom.
The visit, the first Japanese state visit to the country since 1998, was originally scheduled to take place four years ago but was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The 64-year-old Naruhito and his wife, Empress Masako, arrived on Saturday and have since made private excursions.
Naruhito studied in Oxford in the 1980s and became a personal friend of Charles. He studied, among other things, the River Thames, and has reportedly asked to visit the river's major flood barriers, located just east of London.
However, the imperial couple will not visit Downing Street due to the upcoming British parliamentary election.
