The Prince and Princess of Wales will represent the King next week by taking on a special role for the first state visit of 2026, which is just days away
Prince William and Princess Kate will undertake major roles in the upcoming state visit, as they represent King Charles by welcoming the international visitors to the UK. In the first state visit of 2026, the President and First Lady of Nigeria will visit the UK for a two-day trip which will kick off in Windsor on Wednesday.
The President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and the First Lady, Oluremi Tinubu, will travel to the UK as the guests of King Charles and Queen Camilla, arriving in London on Tuesday before they are formally welcomed on Wednesday by the Prince and Princess of Wales on behalf of the monarch.
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After greeting the Nigerian leader at the Fairmont Hotel in Windsor, the group of four will travel to Datchet Road, where Mr and Mrs Tinubu will receive a Ceremonial Welcome.
The King and Queen will formally welcome the Nigerian President and First Lady at the Royal Dais, as a Royal Salute is fired in the Home Park in Windsor, and at the Tower of London. Mr and Mrs Tinubu will then join Charles, Camilla, William and Kate in a carriage procession to Windsor Castle.
In the Quadrangle of Windsor Castle, the carriage procession will be met by a Guard of Honour formed by the 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards with the Royal Standard of the Regiment, with the Corps of Drums of the Battalion and the Band of the Regiment, mounted in the Quadrangle. The Guard of Honour will give a Royal Salute, and the Band will play the Nigerian and British National Anthems.
Accompanied by the King, the Nigerian President will inspect the Guard of Honour before rejoining the Queen and the First Lady on the dais. Together with the Prince and Princess of Wales, they will view the King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery March Past, the Sovereign’s Escort Rank Past and the Guard of Honour March Past.
Later in the day, Charles and Camilla will invite Mr and Mrs Tinubu to view a special exhibition of items relating to Nigeria from the Royal Collection, in the Green Drawing Room.
As is tradition for state visits, Charles, Camilla and other members of the Royal Family will host a State Banquet at St George’s Hall in Windsor Castle, where the King and the President will both deliver speeches.
On Thursday, the Nigerian president will bid farewell to the King before heading into London for a meeting with prime minister Keir Starmer.
The two-day event will be the first UK state visit by a Nigerian president in 37 years and the first state visit received by the King of the new year. The last time a Nigerian head of state visited the UK was in 1989, when then military president, General Ibrahim Babangida, was hosted by Queen Elizabeth II.
Two previous state visits also took place in 1981 and 1973. When King Charles was the Prince of Wales, he visited Nigeria four times – in 1990, 1999, 2006 and 2018. Camilla, then the Duchess of Cornwall, joined him on the trip in 2018.
Charles and Mr Tinubu have a good relationship, with the King receiving the Nigerian president at Buckingham Palace in September 2024. The two men bonded when they both attended a bilateral meeting in a hotel in Dubai, as they attended the COP28 summit in 2023.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.mirror.co.uk ’
