BEIJING — Chinese President Xi Jinping gave Prince William a warm welcome yesterday as he began the first visit to the mainland by a member of the British royal family in almost three decades, setting aside the rancour with London over Hong Kong.

Prince William’s trip to China is the first since Queen Elizabeth and her husband Prince Philip visited in 1986. His visit to China is by the far the most heavyweight diplomatic mission he has attempted. The trip not only heralded a new beginning for relations between China and the British royal family, but also symbolised the extent to which Britain is desperate to court what will soon be the world’s biggest economy.

His father, the Prince of Wales, famously referred to China’s leaders as “appalling old waxworks” when he attended the Hong Kong handover in 1997. Prince Charles has never been back to the country since then.

Meeting in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People, Prince William handed over an official invitation from the Queen for Mr Xi make a state visit to Britain. Mr Xi is expected go to London later this year for a visit that could include a stay at Buckingham Palace.

“The British royal family has great influence, not just in Britain, but across the world,” Mr Xi told Prince William, having asked first about his wife and the child they are expecting.

“Over many years, the British royal family has shown interest in and support for the China-Britain relationship and members of the royal family have done a lot and positively contributed to exchanges and cooperation between our two countries,” Mr Xi added.

Prince William, Queen Elizabeth’s grandson and second-in-line to the throne, told Mr Xi that he looked forward to the rest of his trip, which included commercial capital Shanghai and an elephant sanctuary in the south-western province of Yunnan before returning home tomorrow.

“It’s been a long interest of mine for many years to come and visit China,” Prince William said.

But the Prince will not be visiting Hong Kong, the scene last year of weeks long pro-democracy protests, during which Beijing prevented a British parliamentary committee from travelling to Hong Kong to investigate political reform there, saying it did not want Britain interfering in its internal affairs.

China’s Foreign Ministry said the two also discussed football — Mr Xi is a keen fan — as well as wildlife protection, a subject close to Prince William’s heart. The Prince said he hoped China could become a leader in the field of protecting animals, the foreign ministry added. China last week announced a one-year ban on the import of African ivory carvings.

The Prince was not accompanied by his wife Kate, who is due to give birth to their second child next month. AGENCIES