Japan’s Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako will visit Britain at the end of June, spending three days as guests of King Charles III, Buckingham Palace confirmed on Tuesday.

The royal couple is due to arrive on June 22, but will spend the first three days in private engagements before beginning the official state visit, which will run from June 25 to 27.

Naruhito, 64, will meet Charles and his wife Queen Camilla as well as the monarch’s elder son and heir Prince William and other British royals in the first Japanese state visit to the UK in more than two decades.

A palace spokesman said the programme had been “slightly adapted” because of the upcoming general election on July 4, without going into exact details.

Visiting heads of state have typically held talks with the prime minister and opposition leader, or addressed lawmakers in parliament.

But parliament has been dissolved and there are no MPs, while the government — both ministers and civil servants — are in the pre-election period, with restrictions on what they can do.