Dhe British King Charles III. and his wife Camilla are starting the second day of their state visit to Germany this Thursday. The central point is a speech by the monarch around noon in the Bundestag – an appearance that is not entirely uncontroversial. Left leader Martin Schirdewan has criticized the planned speech by British King Charles III. practiced in the Bundestag. “It is not appropriate for the highest democratic body to bow to a monarch,” Schirdewan told the German Press Agency. “I also find it strange that in times of inflation and soaring poverty, the Bundestag is allowing someone who was literally born with a golden spoon in their mouth to be written into their family book.”
Charles is on a state visit to Germany and is scheduled to give the speech in the Bundestag on Thursday afternoon. On Wednesday, Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier received him with military honors and honored him with a state banquet.
Left-wing politician Gürpinar: The London court has set rules
The deputy party leader of the left, Ates Gürpinar, was even harsher. She told the Augsburger Allgemeine newspaper: “I think it’s absurd to let a king speak in the Bundestag. Let’s remember: monarchies are basically dictatorships with more historical tinsel,” Gürpinar said.
Gürpinar announced that he would stay away from the British king’s speech in the plenary hall. Germany can be happy to have abolished the monarchy more than a hundred years ago. “To now bring a monarch with all honors into the heart of democracy is extremely forgetful of history,” criticized Gürpinar. The fact that the Protocol Department of the London Court sets the rules is incompatible with the dignity of Parliament.
State banquet for the king
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Charles is the first king to address MPs. However, it is not his first appearance in the Bundestag. Three years ago he spoke in his capacity as heir to the throne in honor of the victims of World War II and National Socialism. The monarch speaks fluent German and his family has German roots.
State banquet on Wednesday
On Wednesday, the royal couple had already triggered some enthusiasm after their arrival in Berlin. Charles and Camilla were greeted with military honors by Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and his wife Elke Büdenbender at the Brandenburg Gate and cheered by onlookers. In the evening, the Federal President honored the monarch and his wife with a state banquet with 130 invited guests.
On Thursday morning, Charles first wants to sign Berlin’s Golden Book and meet Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD). He had not attended the state banquet the night before – in contrast to his predecessor Angela Merkel (CDU). An appointment at a weekly market in Berlin is also on the agenda. After the speech in the Bundestag, the state guest visited the arrival center for Ukrainian refugees at the former Tegel Airport together with Steinmeier. This ends the visit to the capital.
In the late afternoon, the King and Federal President make a detour to Brandenburg, which takes them to Finowfurt, north-east of Berlin. There they meet soldiers from a German-British engineer battalion from Minden. Not only is a talk with Brandenburg’s Prime Minister Dietmar Woidke planned – there should also be action: the soldiers are assembling the last parts of a floating bridge over the Havel-Oder waterway, and the British king is supposed to climb it.
Charles then drives to the eco-village of Brodowin, where he would like to find out more about how a particular type of cheese is made. Charles has been a champion of biodynamic farming for decades. As early as the 1980s, he switched to organic farming on his Highgrove estate in Gloucestershire. Camilla and Büdenbender want to visit a social project in Berlin-Neukölln and the Komische Oper in Berlin-Mitte at the same time.
Then it’s off to Hamburg: before the royal couple’s visit, climate activists from the Last Generation movement sprayed orange on the town hall. They distributed the paint filled in fire extinguishers on Thursday morning at the main portal on Rathausmarkt, as the group announced and dpa reporters confirmed. The royal couple, accompanied by Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and his wife Elke Büdenbender, want to sign the city’s golden book on Friday at 1.30 p.m. in the town hall.
With their action, the activists want to ensure that Mayor Peter Tschentscher (SPD) campaigns for the establishment of a social council in the federal government. In the opinion of the activists, citizens from all over Germany should develop a plan on how the Federal Republic can phase out the use of fossil raw materials by 2030.