King Charles, the Queen and William and Kate welcome Nigerian president Bola Tinubu and his spouse to Windsor Castle with guard of honour at begin of two-day state go to

The King, Queen, Prince William and Kate welcomed the Nigerian President to Windsor today for the country’s first state visit to the UK in nearly 40 years.

Bola Ahmed Tinubu and his wife, First Lady Oluremi Tinubu, were met by Charles and Camilla in the warm spring sunshine, after being escorted to a red-carpeted dais outside Windsor and Eton Riverside train station by the Prince and Princess of Wales.

Green and white Nigerian flags lined the streets, alongside Union flags, and an oversized Royal Standard flew from the top of Windsor Castle‘s Round Tower. The King is hosting the Tinubus during their two-day visit with a state banquet due later.

William and Kate met the couple at luxury spa hotel Fairmont Windsor Park, before escorting them by car to Windsor town centre to formally meet the King and Queen.

The King and Queen then arrived at the Royal Dais in central Windsor, near the castle. Charles and Camilla were met with the national anthem, played by a military band.

The King wore a morning suit and carrying a black top hat while the Queen was in a pink wool crepe dress by Fiona Clare and a pink beret shaped hat by Philip Treacy.

Camilla was also wearing the late Queen Elizabeth II’s Cartier flower clip pair of brooches, as crowds gathered on the streets of Windsor to watch the welcome.

The King, Camilla, William, Kate and Mr and Mrs Tinubu then travelled in a carriage procession in a show of traditional pomp and pageantry through Windsor to the castle’s quadrangle to see the Guard of Honour for the ceremonial welcome.

The princess opted for diplomatic royal dressing by wearing a coat dress by young British-Nigerian fashion designer Tolu Coker – after Charles made a surprise appearance in the front row of the artist’s London Fashion Week show last month.

The King welcomed the Nigerian president with a broad smile and a handshake.

Both the Prince and Princess of Wales greeted Camilla with a kiss on both cheeks, with Kate curtsying to Camilla and later the King.

Charles chatted to the president as they stood side by side on the dais, and pointed out the Sovereign’s Escort from the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment in their resplendent uniforms.

Ceremonial service personnel lined the procession route as the King and the president then travelled in the Australian State Coach through the streets of the Berkshire town to the castle’s quadrangle, led by a Sovereign’s Escort from the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment.

Supporters of the president gathered along the route cheered as he passed.

The King and his guest were followed by the Queen and Mrs Tinubu in the Scottish State Coach, and then William and Kate with Nigeria’s attorney general Lateef Fagbemi and minister of state for foreign affairs Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu, in the Irish State Coach.

The carriage procession carrying the King and Nigeria’s president travelled through the George IV gate and swept into Windsor Castle’s quadrangle.

Waiting in the centre of the grass-covered square was a Guard of Honour drawn from the 1st Battalion, Grenadier Guards with the Band of the Grenadier Guards, and an ensign carrying the Grenadier Guards State Colour, or ceremonial flag.

As the Australian State Coach carrying the King and Mr Tinubu travelled around the square, the Nigerian and British national anthems were played, finishing as the wheels stopped beside the royal dais.

Formed in two lines in front of the royal dais was the Guard of Honour – around 100 guardsmen and officers commanded by Major Ben Tracey.

The major stepped forward and told the King and the visiting head of state his guardsmen were ready for inspection and two figures stepped off the dais.

In brilliant spring sunshine the Nigerian president, escorted by the major and with the King a few paces behind, inspected the first row of troops.

After the inspection of the Guard of Honour, the King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery, who earlier fired a 41-gun salute in honour of the visiting head of state, rode past the dais where the president stood with the King.

They were soon followed by the guardsmen from the Grenadier Guards who marched past as they made their way to their barracks.

Charles is rolling out the red carpet for the Nigerian president today, as he hosts the state visit at Windsor Castle.

The King will welcome Mr and Mrs Tinubu to a glittering state banquet in St George’s Hall in their honour, attended by the Queen and the Prince and Princess of Wales.

It is the first state visit to the UK by a leader of the west African nation in 37 years, and also the first incoming state visit by a Muslim leader during Ramadan in almost a century.

Thames Valley Police said extensive security measures had been deployed in the Berkshire town, as the event takes place against an international backdrop of the deepening Middle East crisis.

The grand royal occasion comes less than a month after the King’s brother, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, was arrested on suspicion of sharing confidential reports with paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, amid the ongoing scandal facing the monarchy.

Removal vans were seen at Andrew’s new home, Marsh Farm on the King’s Sandringham estate in Norfolk, on Monday, prompting speculation the disgraced former prince was preparing to relocate from his temporary home at Wood Farm.

The president and the first lady arrived in the UK yesterday on a Nigerian Air Force flight as scheduled, and were met at Stansted Airport by the deputy lieutenant of Essex, Mark Bevan, on behalf of the King.

Their visit went ahead despite suicide bombings in north-eastern Nigeria’s Borno state on Monday, which killed 23 people and injured more than 100.

Mr Tinubu condemned the ‘evil-minded’ terror groups and said he mourned those who lost their lives, saying ‘Nigeria will not succumb to fear’.

The last Nigerian state visit to the UK was in 1989, when Queen Elizabeth II welcomed military ruler General Ibrahim Babangida to London.

This time, the two-day visit falls at the end of the holy month of Ramadan, during which many Muslims fast and refrain from eating or drinking between dawn and sunset – so there will be no traditional lunch with the King in the castle for the president during the day.

The programme has been specially adapted, and Charles will receive the president during an audience in the afternoon instead of hosting the usual welcome lunch.

In 1928, Charles’s great-grandfather King George V hosted King Amanullah Khan of Afghanistan, for a three-day state visit from March 13-15, when Ramadan fell between February 22 and March 22 that year.

There are no known records showing whether or not King Amanullah observed Ramadan.

Mr Tinubu will break his fast privately at sunset today before joining the King and Queen for the night-time state banquet.

The first lady, who is known as Remi, is a Christian and an ordained Pentecostal pastor.

Eid-al-Fitr, the Islamic holiday celebrating the end of Ramadan, begins tomorrow evening, when the president and his wife will leave the UK.

The King will also join the president and first lady in the castle’s Vicars’ Hall to meet organisations working on interfaith dialogue, today.

The Nigerian leader’s stay, aimed at strengthening the UK’s position as a global hub for African business, coincides with the Department for Business and Trade’s announcement that hundreds of new jobs are to be created as a series of Nigerian companies scale up their operations in the UK.

In 2024, the King’s son, the Duke of Sussex, carried out a quasi-royal tour to Nigeria with the Duchess of Sussex, after Meghan disclosed she was 43 per cent Nigerian after a genealogy test.

Mrs Tinubu was later accused of criticising Meghan’s choice of outfits, when she gave a speech reprimanding young Nigerian women for dressing indecently and accusing them of mimicking ‘film stars from America’.

‘They don’t know where they come from. Why did Meghan come here, looking for Africa? That is something we have to take home with. We know who we are and don’t lose who you are,’ she said.

The first lady’s office said she was not talking about Meghan’s outfits, but that she ‘meant Meghan appreciates the people we are and hence her coming here’.