On his first state visit as a king, King Charles III is currently in Kenya. He will stress his dedication to an institution that has been essential to Britain's worldwide dominance since World War II while acknowledging the "painful aspects" of the two nations' shared past.

The four days of the tour are rich in meaning. The late Queen Elizabeth II, the mother of Charles, discovered that she had become the monarch of the United Kingdom in 1952 while on a game preserve in the then-British territory of East Africa.

Following their late Monday arrival in Nairobi's capital, Kenyan President William Ruto hosted a formal welcome for the king and Queen Camilla at State House on Tuesday. Afterward, Charles put a seedling of an African fern tree on the grass.

The royal pair also went to the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior in the Uhuru Gardens, which means freedom in Swahili. After laying wreaths, the monarch and Ruto went to the location of Kenya's 1963 independence proclamation.

The president of Kenya and the king did not immediately make their remarks public.