King Charles III, the new monarch of the United Kingdom, arrived in Germany on Wednesday to begin a three-day state visit. The queen consort Camilla greeted a large crowd of onlookers at the famous Brandenburg Gate in Berlin.
After a turbulent few years over Brexit, the visit is intended to commemorate the shared values between Britain and the rest of Europe and to enhance Britain’s ties with Germany.
The creation of a new generation of long-range missiles that may be deployed to deter aggressors like Russia was among the themes that Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and President Emmanuel Macron of France discussed during their visit this month.
Public radio station Deutschlandfunk quoted Jill Gallard, the British ambassador to Germany, as saying that it was important that the king’s visit occurred just over a month before his coronation.
“Even though the king is above daily politics, this visit was a recommendation of the British government,” Ms. Gallard said, adding, “It’s no coincidence that this first visit is to Europe.”
At the Brandenburg Gate, an 18th-century structure that came to symbolize German unification after the fall of the Berlin Wall, hundreds of people lined the historic Unter den Linden street in central Berlin to welcome the royal couple.
According to the office of Germany’s president, Charles was the first head of state to be greeted at the gate with full military honors since at least the establishment of the German republic in 1949.
The gathering included expatriate Britons seeking a taste of home, royal family admirers from Germany, and those there to witness the spectacle of the British king visiting their city.
As Queen Elizabeth II passed away last year, British Hayley Gibson, 41, who has lived in Germany for four years, said she felt isolated in her sorrow.
Ms. Gibson, holding a bouquet and little flags of the UK and Germany, declared that this would be her first close-up encounter with Charles. She said, “Now I get to witness this new chapter.”
Andrea Oliver, a 53-year-old German woman in the crowd, claimed she had been a fan of Charles since she saw his wedding to Princess Diana on television as a little kid.
She described the atmosphere in Berlin before the royal couple arrived as “wonderful,” adding that there was something about it.
Charles and Camilla were welcomed ceremoniously at the Brandenburg Gate, near the Hotel Adlon, where they will stay, after arriving at a 21-gun salute at the airport.
Charles and Camilla will be the special guests for a state banquet on Wednesday night hosted by President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and his wife, Elke Büdenbender, at Bellevue Palace, the German president’s official house.
Charles was initially supposed to start his international journey in France, stopping in Paris, Versailles, and Bordeaux.
But, that leg was canceled due to strikes and vehement opposition to Mr. Macron’s proposal to raise the country’s retirement age.
According to Buckingham Palace, the visit honored Britain’s ties to France and Germany, their collaboration on climate change research, and their responses to Russia’s war in Ukraine.
The last time Charles and Camilla were in Germany was in 2020, at the height of the pandemic, when he addressed the Bundestag while still a prince and started speaking in German.
Charles will speak to the Bundestag again on Thursday before meeting with Ukrainian migrants.
The royal couple will drive to Hamburg on Friday to visit a memorial honoring the Kindertransport. This campaign moved roughly 10,000 Jewish children to safety in Britain from Nazi Germany between 1938 and 1940.
British Daniel Taylor-Fowles, 27, a group member awaiting the couple’s arrival on Wednesday in Berlin, claimed to have changed his political views since relocating.
“Charles is the biggest and best diplomat that the British have,” Mr. Taylor-Fowles said. “It’s important to strengthen the friendship with the E.U. and Germany.”
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For almost 4 years, Jason Martin has been a freelance writer for newspapers, journals, blogs, books, and online material. He covers the most recent news as well as many other topics.