The King and Queen have touched down in Kenya for the start of their state visit in an RAF jet powered by sustainable aviation fuel.
The RAF Voyager plane they used flew from Brize Norton, Oxfordshire to Nairobi with its tanks full of lower carbon jet fuel known as SAF, sustainable aviation fuel, - a biofuel that has similar properties to conventional jet fuel.
A Palace aide said they used 40% of the special green fuel – which is hard to obtain - for the African royal tour.
On Tuesday the royal tour was starting with an official ceremonial red carpet welcome at State House in Nairobi.
The King, on his first visit to a Commonwealth country since his accession, was received by the President Dr William Ruto, and the First Lady Mrs Rachel Ruto.
The King stood on the dais as the Guard of Honour conducts a Royal Salute followed by a twenty-one-gun salute.
He was also greeted by the Chief of the Kenyan Defence Forces and Commanders of the Army, Air Force and Navy.
Afterwards they each attended bilateral meetings – The King with the President and The Queen with the First Lady. King Charles and the President discussed “themes of common interest.”
Later they were due to visit Uhuru Gardens National Monument and Museum dedicated to Kenya’s history.
The King, accompanied by President Ruto, laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior at Uhuru Gardens.
Afterwards they proceeded past the house of Jomo Kenyatta viewed the MÅ©gomo Tree - the site of the declaration of Kenya’s independence in 1963.
The King and Queen then acknowledged the statues of Mekatilili wa Menza and Dedan Kimathi, who fought for Kenyan independence, before walking through the Hall of Witness, and the Tunnel of Martyrs, which memorialises Kenyans who have lost their lives in conflict throughout the nation’s history.
Inside the Museum’s atrium they were joined by local school children to view exhibits documenting Kenya’s history and the events leading to the country’s independence.
King and Queen later honoured Kenyan independence heroes once designated terrorists by Britain during a visit to the national museum in Nairobi today.
They paid tribute to Mau Mau fighters and others who took part in the long struggle for Kenyan statehood under British colonial rule.
King Charles, 74, and Queen Camilla, 76, were given a sneak preview tour of the Mashujaa Museum, which is due to open to the public early next year, shortly after Kenya celebrates its 60th anniversary of independence on December 12.
It tells the national story and contains a Tunnel of Martyrs, which the royal couple walked down, stopping at each panel to view descriptions of the independence struggle and those who fell fighting for it. The tunnel also has panels dedicated to those killed in Islamist violence since independence, including the 67 people killed when an Al Shabaab gunmen ran amok in the Westgate Mall shopping centre in Nairobi in 2013.
The King and Queen stopped to look at panels about the Mau Mau Uprising between 1952 and 1960.
On their way into the museum they also acknowledged, with brief but respectful glances, statues of two independence fighters. They paid their respects to the statues of Mekatilili wa Menza - a feminist who led the Giriama people in a revolt against the colonial administration between 1912 and 1915 - and Dedan Kimathi, who led the Mau Mau armed military struggle against the British in the 1950s until his capture in 1956 and execution a year later.
The King was asking questions about the uprising as he was shown around. “And this happened in 1954?”he asked at one point as the man responsible for creating the museum, Airforce Brigadier General Oswald Opiyo, led him around.
Schoolchildren explained each demonstration board inside the museum. Camilla inspected one panel describing the different ethnic make-up of Kenya’s people and one boy began to teach her a few words in Swahili.
Brigadier Opiyo explained the importance of showing the couple the Tunnel of Martyrs afterwards. “We want to pay homage to the heroes who lost their lives in this struggle. We would not be having this facility if those heroes did not fight and pay the ultimate price.”
“So the design of it on the angle of incline and making a tunnel is a metaphor: that once you come out of the darkness there is some light.”
He said the King had been keen to learn about the Mau Mau Uprising. “I find it very very gracious that there is a kind of catharsis. It is not an accusation, neither it is casting an aspersion but the King’s interest is in understanding the thing - that the history that the British colonial system did bring to bear on Africans. And then for him to be dignified, to hear it from our voice is very happy.”
He said the British authorities had supported the creation of the museum. “Part of this archiving has been supported by British archives. A lot of our files are still held in Britain.So getting access to those files, getting access to some of those facts, gives meaning, and fills the gap," he said.
"It fills the gaps of knowledge and information that can only be available if there is mutual respect and mutual understanding of country to country, government to government.”
A state dinner on Tuesday night will see King Charles will deliver a keynote speech.
King Charles is poised to express regret over Britain’s repression of the Mau Mau uprising as calls grow for him to make a meaningful apology for abuses in the colonial period.
Activists who want Britain to pay millions in compensation for its colonial legacy in the African state.
A decade ago, the UK government agreed to pay nearly £20 million in compensation to Kenyan victims of torture during the uprising.
