Japan’s Crown Prince and Princess Leave for U.K. to Attend British King’s Coronation

The Yomiuri Shimbun

14:09 JST, May 4, 2023

Crown Prince Akishino and Crown Princess Kiko boarded a flight to Britain Thursday morning to attend the coronation of King Charles III.

The trip is the royal couple’s first official visit to the United Kingdom.

They were last in the country in 2014, for a stopover on the return leg of a trip to Zambia and Tanzania.

Princess Kako, the couple’s youngest daughter, and their son Prince Hisahito saw them off at the Akasaka Estate in Tokyo on Thursday morning.

At about 10 a.m., the couple arrived at Haneda Airport, where they greeted British Ambassador to Japan Julia Longbottom and others before boarding a government plane.

The flight is scheduled to land on Thursday afternoon (early Friday morning, Japan time).

Crown Prince Akishino and Crown Princess Kiko will attend a reception hosted by King Charles on Friday ahead of the coronation at Westminster Abbey in London on Saturday.

The couple are scheduled to return to Japan on Sunday.