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Prince Charles Delivers Queen’s Speech for the First Time

Britain's Prince Charles, Prince of Wales (L), the Imperial State Crown (C), Britain's Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall (R) and Britain's Prince William, Duke of Cambridge (rear C) proccess through the Royal Gallery during the State Opening of Parliament at the Houses of Parliament, in London, on May 10, 2022. (AFP)
Britain's Prince Charles, Prince of Wales (L), the Imperial State Crown (C), Britain's Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall (R) and Britain's Prince William, Duke of Cambridge (rear C) proccess through the Royal Gallery during the State Opening of Parliament at the Houses of Parliament, in London, on May 10, 2022. (AFP)
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Prince Charles Delivers Queen’s Speech for the First Time

Britain's Prince Charles, Prince of Wales (L), the Imperial State Crown (C), Britain's Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall (R) and Britain's Prince William, Duke of Cambridge (rear C) proccess through the Royal Gallery during the State Opening of Parliament at the Houses of Parliament, in London, on May 10, 2022. (AFP)
Britain's Prince Charles, Prince of Wales (L), the Imperial State Crown (C), Britain's Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall (R) and Britain's Prince William, Duke of Cambridge (rear C) proccess through the Royal Gallery during the State Opening of Parliament at the Houses of Parliament, in London, on May 10, 2022. (AFP)

Britain's heir-to-the-throne Prince Charles and Prince William took center stage at the opening of parliament on Tuesday, replacing the 96-year-old Queen Elizabeth who missed the grand set-piece event for the first time in almost six decades.

With the queen forced to withdraw on Monday due to a recurrence of mobility issues, 73-year-old Charles arrived at the Palace of Westminster to read out the government's legislative agenda.

Charles, who had attended the opening of parliament alongside his mother in recent years, started reading out each bill by saying: "Her majesty's government will...".

The State Opening of Parliament is an event of huge pomp and pageantry which traditionally sees the queen traveling to the assembly in a State Coach, escorted by mounted soldiers in ceremonial uniform, while the Imperial State Crown and other regalia travel ahead in a carriage of their own.

The monarch dons the Robe of State before leading a procession to the House of Lords upper chamber where she sits on a throne and formally opens a new session of parliament, reading a speech written by the government outlining its legislative plans.

The queen has missed the occasion only twice during her 70-year reign - in 1959, and 1963, when she was pregnant with sons Andrew and Edward.

The queen, who has missed a number of public engagements since she was hospitalized for a night last October for an unspecified illness, had to issue a 'Letters Patent' to authorise Charles and William to carry out her role at the constitutional event.

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Tokyo Police Care for Lost Umbrellas, Keys, Flying Squirrels

This photo taken on August 2, 2024 shows thousands of umbrellas in containers at the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department Lost and Found Center in the Iidabashi area of central Tokyo. (Photo by Richard A. Brooks / AFP)
This photo taken on August 2, 2024 shows thousands of umbrellas in containers at the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department Lost and Found Center in the Iidabashi area of central Tokyo. (Photo by Richard A. Brooks / AFP)
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Tokyo Police Care for Lost Umbrellas, Keys, Flying Squirrels

This photo taken on August 2, 2024 shows thousands of umbrellas in containers at the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department Lost and Found Center in the Iidabashi area of central Tokyo. (Photo by Richard A. Brooks / AFP)
This photo taken on August 2, 2024 shows thousands of umbrellas in containers at the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department Lost and Found Center in the Iidabashi area of central Tokyo. (Photo by Richard A. Brooks / AFP)

Lost your umbrella, keys, or perhaps a flying squirrel? In Tokyo, the police are almost certainly taking meticulous care of it.

In Japan, lost items are rarely disconnected from their owners for long, even in a mega city like Tokyo -- population 14 million.

"Foreign visitors are often surprised to get their things back," said Hiroshi Fujii, a 67-year-old tour guide at Tokyo's vast police lost-and-found center.

"But in Japan, there's always an expectation that we will."

It's a "national trait" to report items found in public places in Japan, he told AFP. "We pass down this custom of reporting things we picked up, from parents to children."

Around 80 staff at the police center in Tokyo's central Iidabashi district ensure items are well organized using a database system, its director Harumi Shoji told AFP.

Everything is tagged and sorted to hasten a return to its rightful owner.

ID cards and driving licenses are most frequently lost, Shoji said.

- Flying squirrels, iguanas -

But dogs, cats and even flying squirrels and iguanas have been dropped off at police stations, where officers look after them "with great sensitivity" -- consulting books, online articles and vets for advice.

More than four million items were handed in to Tokyo Metropolitan Police last year, with about 70 percent of valuables such as wallets, phones and important documents successfully reunited with their owners.

"Even if it's just a key, we enter details such as the mascot keychain it's attached to," Shoji said in a room filled with belongings, including a large Cookie Monster stuffed toy.

Over the course of one afternoon, dozens of people came to collect or search for their lost property at the center, which receives items left with train station staff or at small local police stations across Tokyo if they are not claimed within two weeks.

If no one turns up at the police facility within three months, the unwanted item is sold or discarded.

The number of lost items handled by the center is increasing as Japan welcomes a record influx of tourists post-pandemic, and as gadgets become smaller, Shoji said.

Wireless earphones and hand-held fans are an increasingly frequent sight at the lost-and-found center, which has been operating since the 1950s.

But a whopping 200 square meters is dedicated to lost umbrellas -- 300,000 of which were brought in last year, with only 3,700 of them returned, Shoji said.

"We have a designated floor for umbrellas... during the rainy season, there are so many umbrellas that the umbrella trolley is overflowing and we have to store them in two tiers."