BERLIN: Britain’s Charles III began his first state visit as king on Wednesday, arriving in Germany for a trip billed as “an important European gesture” to maintain strong ties after Brexit.
“Today, on the day six years ago when Britain began its exit from the European Union, we are opening a new chapter in our relations,” said German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier in a speech welcoming Charles and Queen Consort Camilla.
That Charles had picked Germany for his inaugural foreign trip as monarch was a “great gesture and an important sign for German-British relations,” added Steinmeier.
Earlier, Charles and Camilla had, via a message on Twitter, underlined their “great joy to be able to continue the deepening of the longstanding friendship between our two nations.”
Germany rolled out the pomp in their welcome of the royal visitors, greeting them at Berlin-Brandenburg airport with a 21-gun salute while two military jets made a flypast as they watched from the top of the plane stairs.
The British Union Jack was flapping alongside the European Union and German flags along Berlin’s central Unter den Linden avenue, which leads to the Brandenburg Gate, where crowds of well-wishers waited for hours to catch a glimpse of the dignitaries.
Steinmeier and German first lady Elke Buedenbender met the royal couple with military honours at the landmark, the first time it has provided a backdrop for receiving a state guest.
King Charles to address German parliament
During his three-day visit, Charles will also become the first monarch to address the German parliament, with a speech on Thursday, before travelling to the port city of Hamburg on Friday.
The daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung wrote that the choice of Germany for King Charles’s first visit, after a planned visit to Paris was postponed, showed Germany was a “key partner” for Britain as it seeks to reset relations with the EU.
On Thursday, King Charles will speak to German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and meet refugees who recently arrived from Ukraine.
The royal couple will then pay a visit to a German-British military unit and an organic farm in Brandenburg.
In Hamburg on Friday, King Charles, who has pushed an environmental agenda for decades, is due to tour a renewable energy project.
Bild daily described the visit as a gesture of deep significance; Charles will commemorate victims of 1943 air raids over the city of Hamburg.
Charles was initially supposed to visit France before heading to Germany, but his trip was postponed after violent pension reform protests.
The visit was aimed to highlight warming Franco-British relations but now has to wait for another date.
