Ahead of Pakistan visit the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge meet the Aga Khan in London

The royal couple met the spiritual leader at London’s Aga Khan centre

Britain's Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and Britain's Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge are greeted by Prince Shah Karim Al Hussaini, Aga Khan IV on arrival for a visit to the Aga Khan Centre in London on Wednesday, October 2, 2019. AFP

Prince Aga Khan arrives at the Aga Khan Centre in London. Reuters

The couple visited the Aga Khan Centre, in London. AP

The visit was schedulled ahead of their royal tour to Pakistan. Getty Images

The couple met local school-children during the visit to the Aga Khan Centre. AFP

The children presented the Duchess of Cambridge with a bunch of flowers. AFP

For the visit, the Duchess of Cambridge wore a green and emerald  Aross Girl x Soler London dress, thought to be a sartorial nod to the colour of Islam and the national colour of Pakistan. AFP

Britain's Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and Britain's Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge chat with English stand-up comedian Shazia Murza during their visit to the Aga Khan Centre in London. AFP

Britain's Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and Britain's Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge meet with MasterChef winner, Saliha Mahmood. AFP

Britain's Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge gestures to the crowd as she leaves the Aga Khan Centre in London. AFP

In a matter of weeks, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will embark upon an official visit to Pakistan. Ahead of the visit, the couple met with the Aga Khan in London on Wednesday, October 3, where they met members of the British Pakistani community.

For the visit, held at Aga Khan Centre in Kings Cross, the Duchess of Cambridge wore a green and emerald Aross Girl x Soler London dress, thought to be a sartorial nod to the colour of Islam and the national colour of Pakistan.

The couple met the Aga Khan, the spiritual leader of the Ismaili Muslim community, along with Pakistan’s High Commissioner to the UK, Nafees Zakaria.

Of the visit, Mahmood Ahmed, chairman of the UK's Aga Khan Development Network, said: "This is an opportunity for their highnesses to come to the Aga Khan Centre, which is an important building here in London ... This building promotes the notions of pluralism and also represents our network which does a lot of work in the developing world.

"We have a special relationship with Pakistan, but because of their royal highnesses’ upcoming visit there, we decided to invite them here so they could meet the Pakistani diaspora and people from different walks of life based here in the UK."

He added: "It introduces them [Kate and William] to Pakistan. It gives them an opportunity to talk a little bit to people from there and to get a flavour of where they are going."

The British royals due to visit Pakistan from Monday, October 14 until Friday, October 18.