King Charles III and Queen Camil­la kicked off their trip to New York City on Wednes­day with a vis­it to the Na­tion­al 9/11 Memo­r­i­al, where they ho­n­oured vic­tims of the 2001 at­tacks dur­ing a wreath-lay­ing cer­e­mo­ny.

The stop was part of a busy swing through the city mid­way through the roy­al cou­ple’s four-day trip to the U.S. to mark 250 years of Amer­i­can in­de­pen­dence. It’s the first trip to the Big Ap­ple by a reign­ing British monarch since Queen Eliz­a­beth II vis­it­ed in 2010.

The king and queen ar­rived by mo­tor­cade and were greet­ing by var­i­ous dig­ni­taries at the memo­r­i­al. They were ac­com­pa­nied by for­mer New York City May­or Michael Bloomberg while walk­ing to one of the para­pets ring­ing the two pools, bear­ing the names of the vic­tims of the at­tacks. Charles laid flow­ers on the para­pet.