BPresident Frank-Walter Steinmeier announced the visit of British King Charles III. acknowledged as confirmation of the close historical ties between Germany and Great Britain. The fact that Charles’ first trip abroad as king was to Germany was “a great personal gesture” and “at the same time an important sign of Anglo-German relations,” said Steinmeier at a reception in Bellevue Palace on Wednesday.
The Federal President recalled that on March 29, 2017, then British Prime Minister Theresa May submitted Britain’s request to leave the EU. “Today, exactly six years to the day since Great Britain began its exit from the European Union, we are starting a new chapter. Together, as friends and partners, we are now looking ahead,” said Steinmeier.
The topic of the reception was sustainability. In this context, Steinmeier recalled Charles’ decades-long commitment to environmental protection. His participation in the event is therefore also “a message to the citizens” that Great Britain and Germany together see “the dramatic urgency in the fight against climate change”, said the President. The next few years demanded “an enormous effort”. Germany still has to “do a lot more”.
Earlier, Charles von Steinmeier had been officially welcomed with military honors at the Brandenburg Gate. The state visit of the king and his wife Camilla lasts three days and takes the couple to Brandenburg and Hamburg until Friday. On Wednesday evening, a state banquet in honor of the monarch will be held in Steinmeier’s Berlin official residence, Schloss Bellevue.