Peres to receive honorary knighthood during 3-day UK visit

President scheduled to meet Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace on Thursday.

By JONNY PAUL, JPOST CORRESPONDENT, LONDON
Peres 224.88 (photo credit: AP)
Peres 224.88
(photo credit: AP)
President Shimon Peres arrives in the UK on Monday for a three-day state visit with a packed itinerary of meetings and events, highlighted by his being awarded an honorary knighthood. After a few days of meeting dignitaries, visiting Parliament, and delivering a lecture at Balliol College, Oxford University's oldest college, Peres will meet Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace on Thursday. There he will be awarded a Knight Grand Cross of the Most Distinguished Order of St. Michael and St. George (KCMG), the sixth-most senior award in the British system, used to honor individuals who have rendered important services in relation to foreign nations. After an audience with the queen, the president will have a private meeting with Prince Charles, who celebrated his 60th birthday this week. A meeting with Prime Minister Gordon Brown, at his residence at 10 Downing Street, followed by dinner in his honor hosted by the prime minister and his wife in the State Dining Room, will mark the end of Peres's first official visit to the UK. The president will return to Israel on Friday morning.