London “Why do Germans love the royal family so much?” asked the conservative London daily “The Telegraph” on the occasion of King Charles III’s state visit. The 74-year-old monarch tried to give an answer on Thursday before the German Bundestag. What’s more, Charles went back more than 1,000 years into the two countries’ shared history to commemorate the relationship marked by admiration, friendship and rivalry.
The king didn’t have to take long to explain that the British and Germans are moving closer together in view of the new threats in Europe. “The scourge of war has returned and our security is under threat, as are our democratic values,” Charles said, referring to Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine.
The king had previously discussed this with Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who had refrained from attending the state banquet the night before, apparently so that his coalition partners could shine in royal splendor.
In view of the great historical arc that the king drew back to the Hanseatic League in the Middle Ages, even the political tensions since Brexit have lost their hurtful effect. Many Germans perceive the British exit from the EU as the pain of a rejected love anyway.
The pomp and warmth with which Charles was received in Berlin speaks volumes. The fact that the party “Die Linke” had previously criticized the king’s appearance in the Bundestag as a violation of democratic traditions did not prevent the vast majority of MPs from applauding the monarch vigorously.
Visit of great political symbolic power
Charles’ appearance was not apolitical. On the contrary. The fact that the king is making his first trip abroad to Germany before his official coronation on May 6 is a sign of great political symbolism.
“I was deeply touched” – King Charles III. speaks in the Bundestag
“Britain may have left the European Union, but it is not leaving the most powerful country in Europe,” British historian Anthony Seldon told the BBC about the visit to Germany. After her coronation in 1953, Queen Elizabeth II decided to tour the Commonwealth countries.
Especially after his kingdom left the EU, the king is setting another, conciliatory sign with his European tour – even if the trip to Paris was canceled at short notice because of the burning strike barricades there.
Charles didn’t say a word about Brexit, but instead recalled the many similarities and looked ahead to the common future tasks in climate protection, science and research. “Both our countries are leaders in the world,” said the Brit.
The political screenplay for his appearance in Berlin was not written in Buckingham Palace, but in 10 Downing Street. For Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, the king’s state visit is an important step in Britain’s rapprochement with its European neighbors.
The “Windsor Framework” recently agreed by London and Brussels on Northern Ireland’s role in the EU internal market has paved the way, not for a return of the British to the community, but for working in partnership wherever possible. With his visit, Charles provides the symbolic superstructure for this pragmatism.
The monarch takes three days for his visit to Germany, showing how important the relationship between the two countries is.
(Photo: dpa)
According to the latest opinion polls, a majority of Britons now consider Brexit to be a mistake and today trusts the EU more than its own government or Parliament in Westminster. However, neither the ruling Tories nor the opposition Labor Party have the political will to return.
Charles, who says he has visited Germany more than 40 times, was well aware during his speech that he could build on the legacy left to him by his mother, who passed away last autumn. “The Queen”, as Elizabeth II was called by the Germans with a mixture of love and respect, did a lot for the reconciliation of the former war enemies after the Second World War. “The friendship with Germany meant a lot to my mother,” said Charles, who also recalled the Windsors’ centuries-old family ties to Germany.
Hamburg plays a special role in Anglo-German history
After his appearance in the Berlin Reichstag, the British head of state visited a German-British engineer bridge battalion in Finowfurt near Eberswalde. “Germany is the only country with which we do something like this,” said the monarch. After that, the environmentally conscious monarch wanted to find out more about the progress made in organic farming in the eco-village of Brodowin, north-east of Berlin.
The royal couple will then take the ICE to Anglophile Hamburg on Friday, where Charles III. first to commemorate the flight of Jewish children to Great Britain during the Nazi era and then to commemorate the victims of the 1943 bombing in the St. Nikolai church.
More: King Charles – On a royal mission for Europe
