From the moment the Duke of Cambridge’s plane touches down at Beijing International Airport at around 8.35pm next Sunday he will be making history, even before he begins his busy schedule of meetings and visits.
Stepping on to the tarmac at the airport, designed in part by Norman Foster, the British architect, to resemble a dragon, the Duke will become the first senior member of the Royal family to visit the country since the Queen, nearly thirty years ago.
Even before the Duke sets off on a week-long tour of the Far East commentators are describing the visit to China as a landmark moment; a coming of age in terms of acting for Britain on the world stage and in a country persistently criticised in the West for its human rights record.
Furthermore there is a sensitive history between the Windsors and the Chinese.
During the Queen’s 1986 visit to China, the Duke of Edinburgh offended local sensibilities when he told a group of British students: “If you stay here much longer, you’ll all be slitty-eyed.”
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And after taking part in the formal handover of the former British colony of Hong Kong to China in 1997, Prince Charles described the Chinese officials taking part in the ceremony as “appalling old waxworks”.
It is therefore a mark of the Duke’s growing role within “the Firm” that he is undertaking such an important tour single-handedly.
Indeed, in a reflection of the significant diplomatic role being assumed by the Duke, it is expected that he will meet Li Keqiang, the Chinese premier, and other senior Communist Party leaders during the three-day visit.
Penny Junor, the royal biographer, said: “Not only is this a historic visit, but it is also an indication of how highly regarded William is by the Government and Foreign Office. After all, this is not going to be an easy trip. His father is a friend of Tibet’s Dalai Lama and there is the question of human rights.”
Lord Powell, Margaret Thatcher’s former foreign policy adviser, said: “You can have all manner of trade delegations, but a Royal visit marks the importance both sides attach to the relationship. William’s presence as, in Chinese eyes, our future emperor, will reinforce that.”
Not only is there a political dimension to the third in line to the throne meeting senior representatives of the world’s most powerful one-party state, there is also the potential embarrassment of human and animal rights in a country where they are generally considered low on the agenda.
Like his father, the Duke is a keen environmentalist and has campaigned publicly against the trade in illegal animal products, including ivory, a material much prized by the Chinese as a status symbol.
One potentially sensitive engagement will be the planned visit to Wild Elephant Valley, a popular tourist attraction set in a nature reserve in Xishuangbanna, Yunnan Province, and home to some of China’s last remaining wild elephants.
In one section of the park elephants who have had their tusks sawn off are trained to perform routines for the public – kicking footballs and dancing to disco music – up to four times a day.
Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh on the Great Wall of China during their 1986 visit (Rex)
Palace officials have already anticipated criticism of the Duke’s visit to the park, but have insisted he will not pull out, saying it is important he “engage” with the issue rather than preaching from a distance.
A source said: “This is part of a nature reserve and the Chinese are very clear that the performance is part of their culture.
“What they’re trying to stop is these animals being killed and trapped. They are trying to rebuild the elephant population. You have to go and engage with these issues. If not, you’re never going to change them.”
The Duke will visit Beijing’s Forbidden City – the home of the deposed Chinese emperors – and also meet a group of young people to discuss their experience of migrating from the country to the city as part of China’s rapid urbanisation.
He will also visit a number of restored heritage sites, including an old-fashioned low-rise courtyard house in one of Beijing’s few remaining traditional neighbourhoods, that has been restored by the Prince of Wales’s China Foundation and his Foundation for Building Community.
The Duke’s visit to China will follow on the heels of a four-day trip to Japan, which begins on Thursday, in Tokyo.
With the Duchess of Cambridge staying at home because of her advancing pregnancy, palace officials fear the Duke’s reception may struggle to attract interest.
A source said: “It’s not lost on anyone that this is the first visit by the Duke alone for some time, apart from his brief visit to Malta last year.”
As part of his Japanese trip, the Duke will visit the Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery at Yokohama where more than 1,500 Allied soldiers are buried.
He will also travel to Fukushima to meet victims of the 2011 tsunami and subsequent nuclear disaster.
Among the projects he will visit in the city is one where children are encouraged to play outside again.
Miguel Head, the Duke’s private secretary, said: “It will be the Duke’s first visit to both countries and he is looking forward to starting a personal relationship with the two. Both countries are of strategic importance for business, security, culture and education.”
Also on the Duke’s agenda is a meeting with his counterpart in the Japanese royal family, Prince Hisahito.
Japanese Prince Hisahito, the son of Prince Akishino and Princess Kiko (Reuters)
The present heir to the Chrysanthemum Throne, Crown Prince Naruhito, has no sons and since neither of his daughters can assume the throne by virtue of their sex, the second in line is his younger brother, Prince Akishino.
This created something close to a constitutional crisis which was only solved by the birth to Prince Akishino and his wife of Prince Hisahito, who is now third in line to the throne.
It should not be too formal a meeting, however. Prince Hisahito is only 11 years old.