{"id":29221,"date":"2026-03-19T11:08:12","date_gmt":"2026-03-19T09:08:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&#038;p=29221"},"modified":"2026-03-19T11:08:12","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T09:08:12","slug":"king-charles-welcomes-nigerian-president-to-uk-for-state-visit","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/king-charles-welcomes-nigerian-president-to-uk-for-state-visit\/","title":{"rendered":"King Charles welcomes Nigerian President to UK for state visit"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>United Kingdom&#8217;s (UK) King Charles hosted Nigerian President Bola Tinubu at \u200bWindsor Castle on Wednesday, in the first state visit by a Nigerian leader in 37 \u200cyears, which is aimed at strengthening bilateral ties.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>With trade between the two countries at a record high, Charles is using the two-day visit to highlight the pair&#8217;s deep cultural and commercial links.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>After a carriage procession, Tinubu arrived in a courtyard at \u200bthe castle for a royal salute, where he joined Charles in the sunshine to inspect British \u200bsoldiers in traditional scarlet jackets and bearskin hats.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The state visit did not include \u2060a lunch as Tinubu is a practising Muslim who is fasting during Ramadan, but a state banquet \u200bwill take place later on Wednesday evening.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Britain is home to a large Nigerian diaspora, \u200bwith about 300 000 Nigerians living in the UK.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>One of the most high-profile Britons of Nigerian heritage is Kemi Badenoch, the main opposition Conservative leader who is the first Black woman to lead a major British political party. She was born \u200bin London to Nigerian parents.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The British government hopes the visit will reinforce the UK&#8217;s role as a \u200bglobal centre for African business.<\/div>\n<div>Charles spent the afternoon showing Tinubu items related to Nigeria from the royal collection, accompanied by \u200ctheir \u2060wives, Queen Camilla and Oluremi, and heir to the throne Prince William and his wife Kate.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Among the items were a manuscript written by Ben Okri, the Nigerian-born British poet and novelist, who was the first Black writer to win the Booker Prize, and a Yoruba throne, stitched with thousands of small, coloured beads, \u200bwhich Nigeria had presented \u200bto Charles&#8217;s mother, the \u2060late Queen Elizabeth in 1956.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The visit also included a trip to her tomb in St George&#8217;s Chapel to lay a wreath of flowers.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Charles, who is still \u200bundergoing regular treatment for cancer, has hosted several high-profile state visits over the \u200blast nine \u2060months, welcoming German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, United States President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8211;Reuters&#8211;<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":29222,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[26],"class_list":["post-29221","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-general_news","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"Britain is home to a large Nigerian diaspora, \u200bwith about 300 000 Nigerians living in the UK.","published_date":"","news_description":"Britain is home to a large Nigerian diaspora, \u200bwith about 300 000 Nigerians living in the UK.","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/29221","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/29221\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29223,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/29221\/revisions\/29223"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29222"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=29221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}