Lula travels to London for the coronation of Charles III; see details

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva arrives next Friday (5) in London for the coronation of the king Charles IIIwhich will take place the following day (6).

Also on Friday, Lula will attend a royal reception at Buckingham Palace, an event that will bring together dozens of heads of state invited to the coronation and who will be received by the king. The coronation ceremony of Charles III will be held at Westminster Abbey on Saturday.

bilateral meeting

Before the reception, Lula will have a meeting with the British Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, who is the head of government of the United Kingdom. It will be the first face-to-face between Lula and Sunak. The two spoke by telephone in December 2022, before the presidential settlement.

This was stated by the secretary for Europe and North America at the Farnesina, ambassador Maria Luisa Escorelthe signing of the agreement is not foreseen.

He underlined that the bilateral meeting is an opportunity to strengthen the relationship between countries that maintain a number of multilateral agreements and mechanisms in different sectors, such as energy transition, health, defense and environmental conservation.

The ambassador highlighted the partnership’s position in key international forums, citing, by way of example, the UK’s support for Brazil’s bid to occupy a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council. “The UK always identifies Brazil as a priority country in its foreign policy”he said.

Maria Luisa also communicated that, on May 23 and 24, the British foreign minister will come to Brazil for the sixth edition of a high-level dialogue, when there will be political consultations between chancellors. The last such meeting took place in 2017. A British chancellor has not visited Brazil since 2014. Some topics of interest to the countries are science and technology, climate change and increasing trade flow.

In 2022, bilateral trade moved $6.5 billion, up 15% from 2021. Brazilian exports to the British totaled $3.7 billion, but accounted for less than 2% of total foreign sales of the country. Imports totaled $2.8 billion. The budget is in favor of Brazil. The UK’s most invested areas are mining, finance and transport.

Coronation

At the age of 74, Charles became king on 8 September last year, following the death of his mother, the queen. Elizabeth II, who held power for 70 years, the longest reign on the British throne. In March, Lula and Charles spoke on the phone, focusing on environmental issues, which has been a historic agenda for the monarch.

As prince, Charles has visited Brazil on four occasions (1978, 1991, 2002 and 2009). In all of them, he’s gone to the Amazon region.

King Charles III will be the 40th monarch to receive the crown at Westminster Abbey, in a religious ceremony held for over 900 years and which began following the rituals of the Anglican Church after its creation by King Henry VIII in 1534 Before reading After the oath, the new king will be anointed with aromatic oils, in a ceremony that includes songs and readings.

The event will welcome hundreds of foreign leaders, mainly from the countries of the Commonwealth, an association of 56 countries, almost all of which are part of the British Empire. Of these, 14 still retain the British monarch as head of state.

For the event, security has been stepped up and 30,000 police officers will be on the streets of London over the next few days.